Tuesday, January 20, 2009

Australian Open - Rusedski: Murray can beat Nadal

Former British number one Greg Rusedski believes Andy Murray has the all-round game to beat Rafael Nadal if the pair meet in the semi-finals of the Australian Open.

Join Greg Rusedski, Annabel Croft and Virginia Wade in the studio for more live coverage from Melbourne on Wednesday. Watch the action on British Eurosport - available in the UK on Sky channel 410 and Virgin Media channel 521 - from 8.15am

Nadal swept aside unseeded Christophe Rochus 6-0 6-2 6-2 in a one-sided first-round clash on Tuesday, with a dominant display that had the Eurosport experts drooling.

"Rochus tried to play Nadal's game, but he didn't have the same power or movement, and when that happens you're in a lot of trouble," Rusedski said.

"Nadal's movement was excellent and I was very impressed with his serve. He had a lot of aces and his placement was excellent."

Three-times Grand Slam winner Virginia Wade agreed: "Nadal is so obsessive, he never makes any mistakes.

"His serve was awesome. He takes a match like this and concentrates on every point as if it was a final."

If Nadal progresses to the semi-final stage as expected he could face world number four Murray - who came through his first-round match against Andrei Pavel when the Romanian retired injured, trailing 6-2 3-1.

Murray and Nadal have met six times, with Nadal leading 5-1. Their most recent match-up was in the semi-finals of the US Open, however, where Murray triumphed on the hard court.

Rusedski believes the Scot can repeat that landmark victory in Melbourne.

"Murray can come forward and stop Nadal getting his rhythm," Rusedski said.

"He has a full game and he's hitting his first service very well. If Murray and Nadal meet in the semis I'm predicting a Murray-Roger Federer final."

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