By Erik Gudris | Thursday, May 15, 2014
Andy Murray celebrated his 27th birthday in Rome with a straight sets win. His reward will be a long awaited rematch against Rafael Nadal.
Photo Credit: AP
Andy Murray celebrated his 27th birthday on Thursday at the Italian Open with a straight sets win and some cake afterwards in the press room. The win also created an anticipated quarterfinal that's been almost three years in the making.
French Open: Wildcards Announced
No. 7 seed Murray faced off in the morning against Austria's Jurgen Melzer in the third round. Despite being broken once in each set, Murray soon completed a 7-6(1), 6-4 win.
Waiting for Murray next will be top seed and defending champion Rafael Nadal.
"It won’t be a bad thing to play against Nadal," Murray said. "I haven’t played him for maybe three years. With the French Open and Wimbledon coming up I haven’t practiced with him hardly at all either, so I would be quite interested to play against him before to see how his game has changed. I could also see the things I could do to make it difficult and things that won’t work against him that I would need to change."
Nadal made his way into the elite eight soon enough. But not without another struggle after earning a tough three set on Wednesday against Gilles Simon.
Up against Russia's Mikhail Youzhny, Nadal took control in the first set as he built out a 5-3 lead. But with Nadal unable to close out the set, Youzhny soon forced a tiebreak.
With a smash winner, Youzhny stunned the crowd by taking the breaker 7-6(4).
Both men would trade early breaks in the second set before Nadal edged ahead 4-2 with a piercing crosscourt forehand winner. Urging himself on with furious intensity, Nadal clinched the set 6-2. Not letting go of his momentum, Nadal took command of the final set with yet another break.
Not facing a break point against him in the third, the World No. 1 secured a 6-7(4), 6-2, 6-1 win.
That result now pits Nadal against Murray in Friday's quarterfinals. It will be the first meeting between the two since 2011 in Tokyo. Nadal leads the head to head 13-5.
Haas Upsets Wawrinka in Three Sets
Earlier in the day, No. 3 seed Stanislas Wawrinka battled against No. 15 seed Tommy Haas for a quarterfinal berth.
Despite Wawrinka taking the opening set, the reigning Australian Open experienced a dip in form midway through the second set. That allowed Haas to take over and win that set to force a decider. Serving down 3-4 in the third, Wawrinka would save three break points. But he couldn't save a fourth against him as he sent a wayward forehand wide to give Haas the break for 5-3.
With back-to-back aces, Haas soon sealed the 5-7, 6-2, 6-3 win.
Haas will next face No. 12 seed Grigor Dimitrov who upset No. 6 seed Tomas Berdych 6-7(3), 6-2, 6-2.
(Source: Italian Open)