Birthday bashing for Murray

10:15pm Thursday 15th May 2008

Happy returns were in short supply for Andy Murray at the Hamburg Masters as he was predictably outclassed 6-3 6-2 by an imperious Rafael Nadal on his 21st birthday.

Despite showing flashes of the form that saw him dispatch Dmitry Tursunov and Gilles Simon earlier this week, and which suggested he was getting to grips with clay, the undisputed king of the surface was simply too good.

Murray began strongly by holding serve to love in the opening game, but an horrific smash into the net set the tone for his next attempt as Nadal gratefully accepted the first of two break points.

At the same event where he badly injured his wrist last year, the Scot appeared to be troubled by a left knee problem and had no answer to his opponent's fearsome and unerringly accurate hitting in the early stages.

The British number one saved a first set point on his serve in the ninth game, but two weak forehands into the net offered second and third chances to Nadal - the latter converted when the birthday boy volleyed long to concede the first set 6-3.

Murray immediately hit back, however, to claim a first break in the opening game of the second set, but Nadal instantly got back on terms to reassert his superiority.

Nadal clinched a second break in the fourth game, sealed with a looping forehand up the line which brushed the chalk, to move into an ominous 3-1 lead.

The Spaniard had a first match point on Murray's serve in the eighth, and although that was saved, another forehand into the net put an end to the Briton's preparations for Roland Garros.

Nadal, who has now won all three of the pair's meetings, will face compatriot Carlos Moya in the quarter-finals.

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