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 A distracted Murray, who bizarrely clipped his fringe with a pair of
scissors during one changeover early on, capitulated, but only after
Nadal had softened him up with the kind of ferocious hitting that
earned him 14 grand slam titles.
Ripping forehands to all corners of the court and moving smoothly,
the 29-year-old dominated throughout to qualify for the semi-finals
with a match to spare and leave Murray facing a Friday decider
against Stanislas Wawrinka.
Nadal's progress could have been held up had compatriot David Ferrer
beaten Wawrinka in the evening session, but having led 5-2 in the
first set and having a set point, Ferrer succumbed, losing 7-5 6-2
to the Swiss world number four.
Having failed to win a grand slam title for the first year since
2004, and temporarily sliding to 10th in the world rankings, the
naysayers have been out in force predicting Nadal's demise but the
former world number one continued his recent renaissance against
Murray.
It was a powerful performance that would have had his worldwide army
of fans purring.
"For me to be able to play at that level against such a great player
is good news," Nadal, who will top the group whatever happens
against Ferrer on Friday, told reporters.
"Happy for that. I just want to try to keep working the same way to
keep confirming that I am in the completely right direction. Today I
felt free. I was enjoying on court."
For British world number two Murray, his thoughts may already be
drifting towards next week's Davis Cup final against Belgium on a
claycourt in Ghent, although victory over Wawrinka on Friday will
earn him a place in the semi-finals.
"I think he was hitting the ball extremely well today from the back
of the court," Murray told reporters.
"From the middle till the end of the second set he played extremely
well. But I didn't really help myself. I served poorly at the end of
the first set and all through the second.
"Obviously I lost comfortably to Rafa today and I could play him in
a couple days' time and it could be a different story."
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Murray won only 10 percent of points on his second serve in the
second set, and a nine-point losing streak virtually sealed his fate
and left him waiting for a first win over Nadal in London, having
lost three times to him at Wimbledon and once before at the O2 Arena
in 2010.
He became slightly irritated when asked about his mid-match haircut,
saying: "I don't know why such minor things make such a big deal to
you guys.
"I had some hair in my eye, and I just wanted to get rid of it. That
literally took two seconds."
The 28-year-old's vision had looked clear enough at the start of the
match, breaking serve in the opening game, only to drop his own
serve immediately as Nadal worked the angles.
Trailing 2-3, Murray did well to fend off three break points, but he
found himself 15-40 down again two games later, and once more
wriggled out of danger.
His luck ran out though. Nadal creamed a forehand winner to bring up
three set points at 4-5 and needed just one as he ran Murray ragged
before winning the point with a deft volley.
An awful service game from Murray allowed Nadal a quick break in the
second set and the Mallorcan needed no second invitation to stomp
towards victory.
(Reporting by Martyn Herman; editing by Toby Davis)
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