NO one ever seems to run Rafael Nadal ragged, and yet Andy Murray did just that in the US Open semifinals.
Murray finished a stunning, rain-interrupted 6-2, 7-6 (5), 4-6, 6-4 victory Sunday at Flushing Meadows to reach his first Grand Slam final and stop the No. 1-ranked Nadal's 19-match winning streak at major tournaments.
Trying to become the first British man to win a major tennis championship since Fred Perry at the 1936 US Open, Murray will face four-time defending champion Roger Federer in the final Monday night.
"He's got loads of experience in these situations," Murray said, "and it's something new to me."
The sixth-seeded Murray won the first two sets against Nadal and was down a break at 3-2 in the third in Louis Armstrong Stadium when play was suspended Saturday because of Tropical Storm Hanna. As should surprise no one, the generally indefatigable Nadal made a stand Sunday, when they resumed things in Arthur Ashe Stadium, taking the third set and going ahead 3-1 in the fourth.
"It was almost slipping away," Murray said.
But he took five of the last six games, breaking Nadal twice and ending the Spaniard's bid to make his first final at the US Open.
"I wasn't very fresh," Nadal said.
Murray never before made it past the quarterfinals at a major and never had defeated Nadal in five previous tries. Nadal, meanwhile, won 54 of his preceding 56 matches and took the titles at the French Open, Wimbledon and Beijing Olympics.
But Murray, the 2004 US Open junior champion, was up to the task this time. He wound up with more than twice as many winners as Nadal, 65-32.
"I had my chances," Nadal said. "He beat me because he was better than me."
Murray won a 22-stroke point with a volley winner to get to match point, leaving Nadal bending over behind the baseline, chest heaving. Then Murray completed the service break to end the match, easily chasing down Nadal's drop shot and smacking a winner.
"I just had to keep my head down and watch the ball — and that was that," Murray said. "I didn't feel particularly nervous."
Murray immediately turned to his private box, closed his eyes and leaned backward. With the crowd cheering, he threw his two wristbands and white baseball cap into the stands.
During an on-court interview afterward, Murray described himself as "very relieved" to have won and to have reached the title match at his "favorite tournament" — which might draw some winces in the land of Wimbledon.