Nadal blocks route in biggest game of Murray's career

He is through to the last four of a Grand Slam tournament for the first time in his career but Andy Murray is in no mood to celebrate yet. "The tournament is still going," the British No 1 said here in the wake of his US Open quarter-final victory over Juan Martin del Potro. "I said at the start of the tournament that I want to try to win it. I don't want to lose in the semi-finals.

"When I watched the opening of the tournament on the first night session and saw all the winners of the US Open I realised that winning is what really, really counts. That's what I'm going to try and do. I understand getting to the semis is a great achievement, but I want to go a little bit further."

Tomorrow Murray will have to beat the best player in the world if he is to take another step towards his goal. Rafael Nadal, the champion of Paris, Wimbledon and Beijing, secured his place in the semi-finals by beating Mardy Fish 3-6, 6-1, 6-4, 6-2 early yesterday morning.

Murray, 21, and Nadal, 22, have met five times and the Spaniard has won each time. Their closest encounter was their first, at last year's Australian Open, when Murray led by two sets to one before losing a four-hour thriller.

He has not won a set against the world No1 since and was steamrollered when they met two months ago in the Wimbledon quarter-finals, the Scot winning only nine games in a match that lasted less than two hours. The gap was closer when they met last month in the semi-finals in Toronto, but Nadal still won, 7-6, 6-3.

"The one thing that I need to improve against him is to return better," Murray said. "The first couple of times I played him I returned very well. The last two or three matches I didn't return well at all. If you look at the times I've played him on hard courts, I've had quite a few close sets, really tough matches. It comes down to who returns better and who gets the breaks of serve. Normally that's the best part of my game. The last few times I've played him, I've not done that."

Whatever the outcome, Murray's performances this summer have secured his status as one of the game's major players. He still has some way to go to break the triumvirate that currently rules, but when he climbs to No4 in the world rankings next week it will be a fair reflection of his status as the closest challenger to Nadal, Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic.

He has already matched the highest ranking that Tim Henman and Greg Rusedski achieved and joins his two immediate predecessors as national No1, John Lloyd and Roger Taylor as the only British men to reach a Grand Slam semi-final in the Open era.

Rusedski, who lost to Pat Rafter here in 1997, was the last Briton to reach a Grand Slam final, while Lloyd, beaten by Vitas Gerulaitis in the 1977 Australian Open, is the country's only other finalist in the professional age. It is 72 years since a British man last lifted a Grand Slam singles crown, Fred Perry having won the last of his eight major titles here in 1936.

In the past you doubted whether Murray had the physical strength to see him through to the final weekend of a Grand Slam tournament, but his 7-6, 7-6, 4-6, 7-5 victory over Del Potro provided further evidence of how the Scot is wearing his opponents down. The 19-year-old Argentine was on an unbeaten run of 23 matches but after nearly four hours he was a wreck, both physically and emotionally. "I was feeling pain in all my body," Del Potro said in his post-match press conference, which ended when he broke into tears. "Andy's in very good shape. He played an unbelievable match."

It had been billed as a grudge match following acrimonious exchanges between the two men when they met in Rome four months ago, but their respect for each other as players was clear. Murray said: "At the end he said: 'I'm sorry for what happened before.' I told him it was a great run he had been on. I'm sure we'll have some great matches in the future."

Murray played a clever game. Del Potro, who is 6ft 6in tall and not a particularly good mover, is a baseline ball-thumper who is at his best trading big ground strokes. Murray mixed his game up, slowing the ball down and throwing in drop shots and lobs, and played most of the big points superbly.

Del Potro fought back and was looking particularly dangerous when he broke for a 4-3 lead in the fourth set, but Murray held on. His next match will be even tougher, but one thing you learn with the Scot is that he should never be under-estimated.

Murray v Nadal

22 Jan 2007, Australian Open Fourth round. Nadal wins 7-6, 4-6, 6-4, 3-6, 6-1.

18 Oct 2007, Madrid Masters Third round. Nadal wins 7-6, 6-4.

15 May 2008, Hamburg Masters Third round. Nadal wins 6-3, 6-2.

2 July 2008, Wimbledon Quarter Final. Nadal wins 6-3, 6-2, 6-4.

27 July 2008, Rogers Masters Semi Final, Toronto. Nadal wins 7-6, 6-3.

Nadal leads 5-0

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