Murray repeats over Federer, duels Nadal for crown

INDIAN WELLS, California – Andy Murray beat Roger Federer for the fourth straight time, 6-3, 4-6, 6-1, to advance to the BNP Paribas Open final against Rafael Nadal on Saturday.

No. 4 Murray has won six of eight matches overall against No. 2 Federer.

The 21-year-old Scot will face Nadal after the Spaniard edged No. 7 Andy Roddick, 6-4, 7-6 (4), in their semifinal.

Nadal will have another difficult match on Sunday against Murray, the 21-year-old Scot who’s off to a career-best 20-1 start this year and already has won two tournaments.

“I think he’s more focused all the time, he’s more regular,” Nadal said. “Before, he has one good match and later he plays one set well and two sets not at the same level.

“Right now he’s playing all the time very solid and very regular. You look at his results the last seven, eight months, he’s not losing to anyone. He only loses against the best, and not a lot of times.”

Nadal smiled and added, “I hope tomorrow.”

Federer, whose four-year stint at No. 1 ended last year, made some outstanding shots against Murray, and some awful ones. Inconsistency remains his problem as he tries to fight his way back to the top.

The Swiss star made a whopping 32 unforced errors, including several by clanging routine shots off the frame of his racket. Murray was a model of consistency, scrambling back and forth to keep the ball in play and making just 15 unforced errors.

After Federer came back to win the second set, Murray earned a break in the fourth game of the third to take control. Murray had a scary moment in that game when his feet slipped out from under him and he did the splits while trying to stop, turn and get to a shot behind him. He yelled in pain, but got up off the court a few seconds later and obviously wasn’t hampered – he won the next three points. (AP)