Tennis: Nadal beats Murray in Wimbledon quarter final

July 2, 2008 Britain's Andy Murray today was defeated by Rafael Nadal, who is ranked as the second best tennis player in the world, in the quarter finals of the Wimbledon Championships. Nadal won by three sets to none.

As the winner, Nadal will face or  in the final. Except for in the, neither Schuettler or Clement have got past the quarter final of a major tournament, while Nadal has won several international competitions. Reaching the quarter finals is Murray's most successful run.

Murray was born in Scotland in 1987 and he is currently Britain's highest ranked player, at number eleven worldwide. A successful run at Wimbledon would have meant that Murray's ranking would have risen higher.

Nadal was born in Spain in 1986, and his ranking is second only to that of Roger Federer. He is well known for winning a record 81 consecutive clay court matches.

Murray started the first set well, with him being close behind for much of the first half of the set. After Murray had won three games of the set, however, his play got worse and he lost the set 6-3.

Nadal dominated much of the second set, and he got a clear lead at the early stages of the set. Murray, fought back unsuccessfully, although he managed to stay only one game behind Nadal at the early stages of the set. The set finished with Nadal winning by six games to two.

The first game of the third set was won by Murray, although Nadal won the next game without letting his opponent score a single point. Murray almost broke serve in the third game, although he started to fall apart after he had won thirty points.

The set's next three games were very similar to the first three, with the two opponents being on an equal score after six games. Nadal then won the next three games to take the match.

Before the match, Murray said that he thought he had a chance of beating Nadal. "Obviously he's the favourite for the match but I do think that I can win," he said, speaking to BBC Sport.