Rafael Nadal defeated Andy Murray 6-1, 6-2 on a windy Sunday afternoon at the BNP Paribas Open to clinch 13th ATP World Tour Masters 1000 title, placing him just one behind Federer and four behind all-time leader Andre Agassi.

According to the National Weather Service reported, gusts reached 45 miles an hour in the Coachella Valley, darkening the sky with flying dirt. It was calmer inside the stadium, which features a court that sits below ground level. But the players still had problems with the steady gusts that swirled around the playing surface, carrying grit into the eyes, interrupting serves, turning forehands into backhands and winning shots into wind-blown errors.

“The conditions today were really difficult, but I think I have good strategy and I played a really good match with those conditions,” said Nadal. “Probably Andy didn't play his best because of the conditions, but I think I played a really complete match, moving very well. I never stop the legs during all the match, and I think that was the key today.”

On beating Murray, Nadal said: "Andy was the only big top player I didn't [beat] this year, so it's [an] important win for me. But anyway, the most important thing for me is [to] win the title, any way, the opponent in the final."


“When I go to the tournament, I play first round and I don't know if I’m going to win. You never know what's going on in two months, in five months, in seven months. So it's very difficult to play during all the year at the same level, your best level. If I am playing at my best level, if Murray has a good day, he has a good chance to beat me or Federer or Djokovic or a lot of players. So every tournament is really tough.”


The final marked Murray's most lopsided loss since he fell to Marcos Baghdatis by the same score in August 2007.

Murray said: “It was tough. I haven't played in conditions as windy as that for quite a long time. Rafa dealt with it very well. He hit the ball cleaner and just seemed to get himself in better positions than I did. Then you don't necessarily want to be doing a whole lot of defending and running. 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.”

“I don't feel like I'm that disappointed just now with how the week went, because I wasn't expecting to do that well. I obviously had some very good wins. I got a lot of the matches that I wasn't necessarily expecting, so going into Miami I'm going to be better prepared than I thought. Obviously today was not my best day, but I'll definitely get over it, because I'm guessing I'm not going to play in those conditions each week.”


(photo/ROBYN BECK/AFP/Getty Images, Matthew Stockman/Getty Images, Jeff Gross/Getty Images)

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