• Wimbledon, Day 11

Nadal brushes aside Murray

Rafael Nadal showed precision as well as power in beating Andy Murray © Getty Images

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Andy Murray's Wimbledon dream was dashed for another year, when he came up against world No. 1 Rafael Nadal in the semi-finals.

The Brit produced some high-class play, but it was not enough to topple the 2008 champion, who wrapped up a 6-4 7-6(6) 6-4 victory and remained on course for an eighth Grand Slam title.

Home favourite Murray was clearly fired up for the match, and came out all guns blazing. The world No. 4 settled into his serve immediately and it was the Scot who had the best of the opening stages, heaping pressure on Nadal's service games.

But against the run of play, it was Nadal who grabbed a late break in the opening set to stun the partisan Centre Court crowd - David Beckham among them.

Murray was leading all the head-to-head statistics, except for the all-important score, but Nadal demonstrated why is he is ranked No. 1 in the world, winning the important points to take the opening set.

As Nadal began to settle into his rhythm, Murray continued to put pressure on the Spaniard, but everything he threw at him, Nadal had an answer for. When the second set went to a tie-breaker, the crowd on Centre Court tried to get behind their man.

With a set point in the breaker, Murray served to level the match but it seemed the pressure of vying to become the first British male to make a Wimbledon final in 72 years got to him, and Nadal saved it with a drop volley before going on to take a two-set lead.

With Nadal two sets to the good, it was always going to be difficult for Murray to claw his way back, but he showed no signs of giving up, and grabbed his first break of the match, and held his serve for a 2-0 lead.

But just as it looked like the match was heading for a fourth set, Nadal won four games on the bounce to seal an impressive victory and move into his fourth Wimbledon final.

Nadal will now be the overwhelming favourite to win a second Wimbledon title when he takes on No. 12 seed Tomas Berdych on Sunday, after the Czech beat third seed Novak Djokovic in straight sets.

"It was a very, very good match for me," Nadal said. "To beat him you have to play your best tennis because he is one of the toughest opponents in the world."

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