He also did something odd towards the end of the first set, and while he was down 2-1.
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Murray, who won his opening match over Ferrer and is trying to finish the year with the No. 2 overall ranking, broke Nadal’s serve to open the match.
A mid-match haircut failed to help Andy Murray as he was well beaten by a resurgent Rafael Nadal at the ATP World Tour Finals.
Wawrinka lost to Nadal in his opening match but saw off David Ferrer on Wednesday.
“I’m just happy the way that I played today, happy the way I was working”, Nadal told reporters.
Predictably the Belgians are preparing a slow indoor claycourt to try and blunt the world number two, whereas the court inside London’s O2 Arena is a medium-paced blue hardcourt that requires different shots and movement.
“He’s played well here the last couple of years”, Murray said.
An bad service game from Murray allowed Nadal a quick break in the second set and the Mallorcan needed no second invitation to stomp towards victory.
Nadal creamed a forehand victor to bring up three set points at 4-5 and needed just one as he ran Murray ragged before winning the point with a deft volley.
Two-time grand slam champion Murray can still qualify for the last four of the season-ending tournament and be assured of closing 2015 ranked second if he beats Stan Wawrinka in his final Group Ilie Nastase match.
Those of us with longer locks know the struggle, but while most would distractedly play on, Murray made a decision to do something about it. “I cannot think about that, seriously”.
Federer was already guaranteed a place in the semi-finals courtesy of his straight-sets wins over Tomas Berdych and Novak Djokovic but battled for two hours and 10 minutes to maintain his unbeaten record.
He said: “If it itches too much, I’ll take it off. If my girls can’t stand it, I’ll take it off. If I look in the mirror and I don’t like it, I’ll take it off”.
“The feeling on the ball is different than outdoor”, said Nadal, who will face Andy Murray of Wednesday”.
“If I hadn’t played in London, I would have gone into the Davis Cup final without any matches for several weeks, and even though the surface is different, taking on the best players in the world must be great preparation for such a big event”. I played a very good first game.
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“I wasn’t serving well towards the end of the first set, and it was carried over in the second”.
