On paper, Murray didn’t have a chance.  OK, he had a small chance.  After all, he is a top 4 player who has beaten Djokovic.  But clay is Murray’s weakest surface.  Even so, give Murray enough time and he comes up with ideas.  He wasn’t ready to beat the new Djokovic in Melbourne, but it’s been months since then.

Often, Murray’s ideas leave him at the precipice of winning without winning.  For example, Murray took Nadal to a third set at Monte Carlo, but put up a few too many errors in the third.  He had a strategy that worked for about a set, then fell apart.

Against Djokovic, the idea was to keep the ball deep and engage in long rallies often hitting to the Djokovic backhand.

Djokovic started this match in efficient manner, painting sideline after sideline, running Murray ragged.  Anytime the rally went more than a few shots, it went to Djokovic’s favor.  But something happened in the second set.  Murray began to hold.  And he was the one winning the long rallies.  He broke in the second set and took one from Djokovic.

Djokovic started the third set with a break of his own, but Murray returned the favor.  Then, he broke again, but Djokovic broke back, then Murray broke to get ahead, but Djokovic broke back, but then Djokovic had a bad game, almost as if he decided the streak wasn’t important.  He was down 0-40 off silly shots.  But Djokovic eventually broke back again as Murray was ready to serve for the match, and it looked like he wanted to stay in the match, stay in the streak, despite the fatigue it would mean for the finals of Rome.

Djokovic had had a semifinal like this in Madrid two years ago against Nadal, and lost after holding match points.  Nadal would go on to lose to Federer in the finals.

Djokovic then got an early mini-break, then a drop shot, lob combination to get ahead, then another drop shot to seal the match.  And he pulled out a victory that seemed all but in Murray’s hands, a first clay court final for the Scot.  And yet, it was not to be.

So we get the final everyone had hoped for.  Most feel Nadal will finally break the streak.  Djokovic has beaten Nadal three times in a row including a solid win in Madrid.  But this time, Nadal had a straight set match in the early semis while Djokovic was pushed to the limit and has less than 24 hours to recover and try to beat a fresh Nadal.

And Murray?  He should be proud of how he played.  He is close to beating both of the top players, closer than Roger Federer is.  He won’t see it that way, of course.  He wants to win.  So this has to hurt, but at least he can say he did tremendously well on clay, quite the achievement given his lack of a true coach.

Let’s hope he keeps his head up and uses these matches to make a positive move in the French.  But it’s difficult to predict with the volatile Scot.

In the meanwhile, is the streak about to end?  Djokovic might prefer to lose this and win the French.  Or he might prefer to win both.

The record for consecutive match records is held by Vilas who apparently accumulated these wins in about three months.  Presumably, the way he did this was to play week after week for 7-8 tournaments in a row and kept on winning.

So who will reign supreme on clay?  Wait until tomorrow!