The match almost didn’t start at all.  An announcement was made at the start that Murray wasn’t ready to play right away due to a possible injury and it would start 15 minutes late, if at all.  But Murray did show up, and the question became, what’s his health like.

Murray immediately opened with a break,  abut then got broken and then broken again.  Murray was able to secure the break to tie it, but then got broken and gave the second set to Nadal.

Nadal was surprisingly a bit passive.  Meanwhile, Murray’s strategy involved hitting lots of shots to the Nadal backhand, much like Federer also does.  As good as Nadal’s backhand is, he rarely tries to make winners with that shot.  It’s meant to move the ball around and provide him an opening for his own forehand.  Meanwhile, Murray may now have the best offensive two-handed backhand.  Djokovic may be more precise, his laser-like focus able to hit it down the line, but Murray hits it hard, primarily crosscourt.

Despite losing the first set, Murray looked pretty calm.  He got an early break, then. had a marathon game at 2-1 to try to secure the break.  The game went to some eight deuces, with Murray saving numerous break points.  Murray finally held.  At this point, Rafa seemed a little off his game, and eventually gave up a second break.  Murray would give up a break back, but then break again and hold to secure the second set.

Murray has several ways that he tries to combat Nadal.  He has two primary strokes, the short crosscourt backhand aimed at service box.  Murray developed this shot several years ago.  It was meant to force Nadal to hit his backhand.  As everyone knows, Nadal prefers to run around his backhand.

The second stroke is a high heavy-topspin crosscourt lobbish shot.  It is also meant to aim high to Nadal’s backhand and buy time.  If Murray gets a chance, he will hit a hard flat backhand crosscourt, with angle.  If not, he’ll hit the up the line backhand about 5 feet from the sideline.

This is a standard Federer shot.  He hits this shot because Nadal’s standard response it to hit it either back up the same line, or hit a standard crosscourt shot, both of which are manageable.

Despite a bit of passivity and errors from Nadal, the third set went all Nadal.  Nadal played more aggressively, hit closer to the lines while Murray started making errors.  Pretty soon, Murray is down double-break.  He gets one  back, but then gives up the break again.

Nadal takes the third set, 6-1.  He now faces David Ferrer.  Ferrer beat Melzer in the other semis.  Melzer seemed a bit flatter perhaps giddy from his win over Federer, or unable to deal with the relentless pressure and steadiness of Ferrer.

Last year, Ferrer made the semis of Monte Carlo, and then the finals of Rome.  Ferrer can at least say he won in their last meeting (at Australia), but Nadal was clearly injured.

Although Murray lost, he can clearly say that he has some shots that can bother Nadal, provided Nadal isn’t in over-aggressive mode and provided Murray doesn’t miss too often.

This aggression is not something that’s natural for Murray.  He balances out aggression with steady shots.

Nadal didn’t look great, but he played well when he had to.  Now he faces Ferrer, and what appears to be the seventh straight clay Monte Carlo title.

Final score: 6-4, 2-6, 6-1