Nadal to face Murray in Madrid final
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Madrid, Spain (SportsNetwork.com) - Andy Murray will face Rafael Nadal in the Madrid Open final after beating Kei Nishikori in straight sets on Saturday.
The second-seeded Murray improved to 9-0 on clay this year with a 6-3, 6-4 victory over Nishikori.
Murray is aiming for back-to-back clay-court titles after winning his first ATP crown on the surface in Munich last week.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}This year's Australian Open runner-up captured the title here in Madrid in 2008 when the event was staged on hardcourts.
Earlier, Nadal, a four-time Madrid champion, reached the final here for a seventh time with a 7-6 (7-3), 6-1 victory against Tomas Berdych. He will try for a third straight title at the Magic Box on Sunday.
The Spaniard first won the Madrid crown in 2005 on an indoor hardcourt and has dominated the event since it moved to the spring clay-court season in 2009. He has now reached the final six times in the seven years it has been a French Open tune-up, the lone exception being a round of 16 loss to Fernando Verdasco in 2012.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Nadal beat Roger Federer for the 2010 title, avenging a loss to the Swiss great in the 2009 final, then lost to Novak Djokovic in the 2011 title match. Since the surprising loss to Verdasco in 2012, he has not tasted defeat in the Spanish capital, beating Stan Wawrinka for the 2013 title and Nishikori for last year's championship.
Berdych was trying to reach his second straight clay-court final after last month's loss to Djokovic in the Monte Carlo title match. The Czech has advanced to at least the semifinals in seven of his eight tournaments this year, including a run to the Australian Open semis when he beat Nadal in the quarterfinals.
Nadal was not going to let history repeat itself on Saturday.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}The third-seeded Mallorcan failed to convert a couple of break points in the first set, but dominated the tiebreaker and carried that momentum through a relentless second set. He broke Berdych twice during the set and finished the match in an hour and 44 minutes.
Nadal did not face a break point during the match and improved to 19-4 lifetime against Berdych. He had beaten the Czech 17 straight times, including last year's Madrid quarters, before the straight-set loss in Melbourne.
Nadal brings a 15-5 record against Murray into Sunday's title match.