Abu Dhabi: Andy Murray beats Nadal - in the final against Andrey Rublev
Andy Murray won the long-awaited duel with Rafael Nadal at the Mubadala World Tennis Championships in Abu Dhabi in two sets. In the final of the show event, the Scot will now meet Andrey Rublev .
by Michael Rothschädl
last edit: Dec 17, 2021, 06:38 pm
Andrey Rublev was able to buy his ticket for the final in Abu Dhabi in the afternoon. The Russian defeated Denis Shapovalov in an entertaining and hard-fought game in three sets. Bitter detail for the Canadian: Shapovalov made a double mistake at match point in the third round, which ultimately fixed the victory for Rublev.
In the final, the fifth in the world rankings will now meet the Scotsman Andy Murray, who again showed a great performance in the duel with returnees Rafael Nadal and should have the upper hand in two sets. In the first round, the former world number one benefited from starting difficulties at Nadal, the second set was extremely even for a long time.
Nadal against Shapovalov on Sunday
In the end, it was a late break at 5: 5 that should make the decision in favor of Andy Murray. The Scot served the match a little later without any problems and made the finals perfect. For Rafael Nadal, it was a defeat in the first match after his injury break, although the Spaniard presented himself positively over long periods.
In addition, tomorrow, Sunday, the 20-time major winner will have another chance of success in Abu Dhabi, Nadal will face Denis Shapovalov in the game for third place. Andy Murray and Andrey Rublev finally contest the big final.