Rafael Nadal overcame Murray-complex and powered his way to a 6-1, 6-2 victory at the BNP Paribas Open, Indian Wells final this morning!This championship not only avenged a loss to Andy Murray in the Rotterdam final this year but also shows that Nadal has already mastered the hard court surface.
“I felt I played really good,” Nadal said.
“Maybe I was a little bit more prepared. I think I accepted the conditions."
“I tried to play inside the court, go to the net some, move all the time. It’s important that you know you don’t have to find the lines all the time, but hit the ball inside, not so close to the lines.”
Murray said, “Rafa dealt with it well."
"He hit the ball cleaner and just seemed to get himself in better positions than I did. You want to be in the best position possible to hit each ball and I wasn’t."
"That’s why he managed to dictate most of the points.”
In the women's singles final, Vera Zvonareva defeated defending champion Ana Ivanovic 7-6 (5), 6-2.“After a couple of games, I knew that the conditions were very difficult and it’s not going to probably change and I have to fight for every point, have to adjust my game,” Zvonareva said.Ivanovic said the conditions were the worst she’s played in.
“Even though I had some mistakes and some frustrating points with the wind, I was still trying to put as many balls as I can in the court, try to concentrate.”
“It wasn’t much about the game plan. It was just who can handle the conditions better, and who can stay probably mentally tougher through it,” Ivanovic said.The victory evened Zvonareva’s record against Ivanovic to 4-4.
“Today, she did. “Yeah, she played really well.”
(Via AP; Images by Matthew Stockman/Robyn Beck/AFP/Getty Images)
