Fifth seed Nadal, who has struggled for form in the last 18 months,
will bid for a ninth title in the Principality on Sunday against either
France's Gael Monfils or Jo-Wilfried Tsonga.
The Scot won the opening set in 49 minutes with a single break, but could not carry on after being broken at the start of the second set.
MONTE CARLO: Rafael Nadal returned to the final of the Monte
Carlo Masters for the first time in three years, the eight-time
champion struggling to close out a 2-6, 6-4, 6-2 win over Andy Murray on
Saturday (Apr 16).
Waiting for him in his 100th ATP final is Gael Monfils, who
hammered French compatriot Jo-Wilfried Tsonga 6-1, 6-3, with the loser
drawing jeers as he left the court in after 69 minutes.
Monfils, making his second consecutive Monte Carlo semi-final start,
never allowed Tsonga a chance in their match, breaking six times.
Nadal will be playing his tenth final here and holds a solid
11-2 record over Monfils. He has not won a Masters title since Madrid,
2014.
"It's a very important week for me, being in a final here again in
Monte Carlo, winning against very tough opponents," the winner said.
"That's a lot of great confidence, good news for me. Let's see if
tomorrow I can play at the same level."
Spain's fifth-seeded king of clay showed hints of the form
which took him to multiple seasons of total dominance on the surface as
he overcame second seed Murray in a battle lasting for more than two and
a half hours.
"I don't want to talk every day about if I am back or I am not back.
I'm in the final of Monte Carlo. That's a great news. Every year is
different. Every feeling is different. I don't want to compare myself or
trying to analyse if I am the same like before or not.
"I want to be today better than yesterday and tomorrow
better than today, and after tomorrow better than tomorrow. That's it.
That's my work today, and that's my motivation. I don't want to think
about the past."
It was not all one-way traffic for Nadal, who spent 10
minutes in the final game between his first match points and his fifth
in fighting off a late Murray charge.
The 28-year-old Murray saved four match points and had two break
chances of his own before Nadal finally drilled over a winner which the
Scot could not quite handle.
Murray, who got into a verbal row with the chair umpire
during frustrating moments, said: "Towards the end, it's obviously
frustrating when the match is getting away from you.
"In the third, I didn't get off to the best start. I had a few
opportunities in that last game to try to make it a bit more
interesting, but couldn't quite get the break.
"I do feel like I played a pretty good level match today for
the most part. Obviously there was a few dips. Also Rafa is allowed to
play well sometimes, too. So you have to give your opponent credit.
"He's one of the best, if not the best ever, on this
surface. When he plays well, you can't always decide the outcome. He
played some good stuff today and deserved to win."
Murray was unable to maintain his winning momentum after
lifting the opening set against the Spaniard who has spent the last 18
months recovering mental confidence after a deep slump.
The 14-time Grand Slam champion has not won a title of any kind since last summer in Hamburg.
Nadal improved to 17-6 over Murray, defeating him seven of the eight times they have met on clay.
Murray will need to step up his pace on clay after winning his first
two trophies on the surface last spring in Munich and Madrid
back-to-back.The Scot won the opening set in 49 minutes with a single break, but could not carry on after being broken at the start of the second set.
The second seed got the break back a game later but then
lost serve for a second time in the seventh game as Nadal made a winning
return off a Murray overhead.
The Spaniard claimed the set after more than an hour as the total match time ticked over to two hours.
Murray's game went into collapse in the third set as he trailed 5-1 before his futile late rally.
- AFP/yt/ec
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