Murray sure he can stretch Nadal all the way this time

DARK clouds are gathering over New York as Tropical Storm Hanna makes her way to the east coast. The weather forecasters are predicting that today's play at the US Open will be washed out and the organisers are planning for an extra day's play and a Monday finish.

Hanna is due to hit the eastern shoreline of South Carolina today and hurricane watches have been posted in both North and South Carolina and Virginia. While New York will not bear the brunt of the Category 1 hurricane's force, torrential rain is expected to drench the city until tomorrow morning.

If today's two men's semi- finals, including Andy Murray's highly anticipated clash with world No1 Rafael Nadal, and the Serena Williams-Jelena Jankovic women's singles final have to be abandoned, the schedule would be moved in its entirety to tomorrow, which would necessitate the men's final being played on Monday. But until the full effects of the storm become clear today, nothing is set in stone. The organisers will do everything they can to get the tournament finished on time.

The Nadal-Murray match is scheduled second on Arthur Ashe Stadium today, where play is due to start at 11am local time (4pm BST), after the Roger Federer-Novak Djokovic clash. However, there is a plan in place to play both matches concurrently, with Nadal and Murray shifting to the secondary Louis Armstrong Court.

Many will be puzzled why the men's semi-finalists have been sitting idle for two whole days as the weather deteriorates. The other three grand slams traditionally play the men's semis on the Friday, allowing a day's rest before the Sunday final. However, as with many things in life, the Americans do it differently, and unsurprisingly TV dollars are the driving factor. 'Super Saturday' sees the Arthur Ashe Stadium crowd treated to both men's semi-finals and the women's final. The reason is that CBS takes over the broadcasting rights at the weekend and their big bucks demand as many showpiece matches as possible.

Despite the gloomy weather, a small ray of sunshine by the name of Murray is enjoying himself. He is in his first grand slam semi-final and life could not be better. Potential champions do not come more laid back than Murray. "I always sleep fine at tournaments," he said. "Always eight or nine hours, no problem. I am feeling good. I practised for an hour and I will now relax for the rest of the day."

The thought that he is one match away from his first major final does not seem to bother him and the fact he has never beaten Nadal in five meetings is of no consequence.

"Everyone was saying the same thing about Novak Djokovic when I lost against him four times in a row," Murray shrugged (he went on to beat the Serb twice in two weeks this summer). "I think if Nadal goes on the court thinking it will be an easy match, he will be wrong. It won't be easy."

Having come from a set down to defeat unseeded American Mardy Fish in the small hours of Thursday morning to book his first last-four spot in New York, Nadal admitted he was not at the peak of his powers and needed to find some form. The Spaniard, who is looking to add a third grand slam title this year to his French Open, Wimbledon and Olympic triumphs, said: "I'm not playing like two or three weeks ago in Beijing. But if you're in the semi-finals, there has to be something good there."

Murray makes it all sound so easy but this weekend is what he has been working towards for years. The hard work has already been done. The hours of fitness training, the lung-bursting graft on the running track and the muscle-snapping effort in the gym, have turned Murray's natural talents into a championship winning force. All that is left is for Murray to play his game – and if he can do that, many believe that he has a real chance to beat Nadal today.

"The first couple of times I played him (Nadal] I returned very well," said the player from Dunblane. "The last two or three matches I didn't return well at all. That's the only thing that I need to do. If I take the match at Wimbledon away, the times I played him on hard courts, I've had quite a few close sets, really tough matches. It comes down to who returns better and who gets the breaks of serve. Normally that's the best part of my game. The last few times I've played him, I've not done that."

John Lloyd is one of the few British men to have reached the sharp end of a major tournament in recent years, reaching the final of the Australian Open in 1977. As Great Britain's Davis Cup captain, he knows everything about Murray's game and temperament and believes the Scot could upset the world No1.

"Andy is an extraordinary player to watch," Lloyd said. "Sometimes he looks like he's not really hitting the ball that hard. He almost lures players into a web. Then he attacks them and manoeuvres them into positions they don't want to be. He has a natural feel for when it's time to alter things in a rally.

"I think Andy has a great chance. Nadal's played well at times over the last fortnight, but there have been other times when he's been quite a way below his best. With the year he's had, you feel that at some stage his legs are going to get fatigued. Andy is one of the few players out there who can stretch you and force you to play shots you don't want to hit. He won't get that many easy rallies against Andy."

What has impressed Lloyd most is Murray's physical strength. The season is three-quarters done and everyone is looking jaded especially after squeezing the Olympics into an already packed season. Yet for all that Murray's quarter-final lasted nearly four hours, the Scot looked fit and fresh when it was over.

"If you're going to compete with the big three, being able to match them physically is almost the most important thing," Lloyd said. "You have to be able to come back after three or four hours against them because they just pound away at you. Andy's been doing that here. He's fitter than most of the other players and is just outlasting them."

When Lloyd sits alongside Murray on the Davis Cup court, he seldom offers a word of advice – he does not need to. Murray has, he says, "a computer brain" when it comes to tactics and to reading a match and the Scot has the ability to change his game plan in a trice should he need to. Lloyd thinks that ability could be the undoing of Nadal. "The top three like to force you out of your comfort zone and force errors out of you," Lloyd said. "That can make opponents fall apart, but Andy is very solid and he can cope with that.

"The return of serve is one of the big things against Nadal. He doesn't have as big a serve as some of other players and I think it's particularly important that Andy tries to jump on his second serve and put him in positions where he doesn't want to go."

Providing Hanna doesn't wreak her havoc today, Murray could have his best chance to be putting Nadal in a taxi to the airport and himself through to the US Open final.