Murray reaches Rogers Cup final by beat Nadal in straight sets

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Murray defeats Nadal in Rogers Cup semis

TORONTO — Andy Murray defeated top-ranked Rafael Nadal of Spain 6-3, 6-4 in the first semifinal of the Rogers Cup on Saturday.

Murray, the fourth seed, will play the winner of the Roger Federer-Novak Djokovic semifinal on Sunday.

“You never expect to beat the best players in the world,” Murray said. “But I think if I play my best tennis like I did today, I have a very good chance against all of them.”

Murray used his strong baseline game to knock off the top-seed. He kept the pressure on Nadal throughout the match and kept the unforced errors to a minimum.

Using powerful topspin shots from the back of the court, Murray kept Nadal moving from corner to corner. His slice and cut shots were also effective, preventing the speedy Spaniard from getting into a rhythm. Murray was clearly the aggressor and forced Nadal to play defense for most of the match.

“His movements are great from the baseline,” Nadal said. “They’re fantastic, his movements. And he has unbelievable hands to return the ball. That’s one of the best things of his game.”

In the opening set, the players held serve until Murray broke for a 5-3 lead. He added three aces in the next game and took the opener in 49 minutes. After exchanging service breaks in the second set, Murray broke again to go up 5-4 before serving out for the win.

He improved to 4-8 against Nadal, with all four victories coming on hard courts.

Murray’s last ATP World Tour title came in Valencia last November. He’s looking to become the first men’s player to repeat as Rogers Cup champion since Andre Agassi successfully defended his title in 1995.

Julien Benneteau and Michael Llodra of France advanced to the doubles final with a 7-6 (5), 6-4 victory over Frantisek Cermak of the Czech Republic and Michal Mertinak of Slovakia. Bob and Mike Bryan of the United States were scheduled to play Mahesh Bhupathi of India and Max Mirnyi of Belarus in the late doubles match.