Monte Carlo Masters: Andy Murray v Rafael Nadal semi-final preview
Saturday 16 April 2016 16:16, UK
Andy Murray has the arduous task of facing an in-form Rafael Nadal on the treacherous clay courts in the Monte Carlo Masters semi-finals.
ATP Masters Tennis
You can watch the British No 1 take on the 14-time Grand Slam winner on Saturday, live on Sky Sports 3 from 10am as part of a bumper day of tennis action.
The morning will begin with Andy's brother Jamie in doubles action alongside Bruno Soares against Ivan Dodig and Marcelo Melo. In the singles, Andy Murray's semi-final against Nadal is scheduled for midday with the second last-four encounter - Gael Monfils v Jo-Wilfried Tsonga - pencilled in for 3.30pm.
Murray will take centre stage, however, with the first big test of the clay court season as he meets the greatest ever player on the red dirt.
Nadal has won nine French Open titles and has, so far, used Monte Carlo as the ideal warm-up for this year's Roland Garros event.
Murray traditionally struggles to adapt from hard courts to clay, so coming up against Nadal will be a monumental ask.
The world No 2 from Dunblane has a paltry career head-to-head against the Spaniard, having won just six out of 22 matches. They met in Monte Carlo in 2009 and 2011 with Nadal advancing both times.
This week, Murray burst into life with Friday's quarter-final win over Milos Raonic, romping to a 6-2 6-0 win.
He had previously been made to scrap to move past Benoit Paire. Impressively, Nadal dumped out world No 4 Stan Wawrinka with a 6-1 6-4 blitz in their quarter-final.
The Spaniard hasn't quite reached the heights of his 2008-2013 pomp when he won 46 consecutive games on clay, but nine previous titles in Monte Carlo suggest that Murray enters Saturday's semi-final as the underdog.
Watch Murray vs Nadal on Saturday, live on Sky Sports 3 HD from 10am.
