Different season, same match-up, same result. For the second consecutive year, home favourite Rafael Nadal clashed with rival Andy Murray at the Mutua Madrid Open and once again it was the Scot prevailing in straight sets, 7-5, 6-4.

Despite the defeat, Nadal pointed to positive signs in his game during this European clay-court season that has galvanised the Spaniard. Nadal witnessed his win streak come to a halt at 13, following back-to-back titles at the Monte-Carlo Rolex Masters and in Barcelona, and the 29 year old looks to that strong run of form as motivation for the coming weeks.

“I think I had another positive week,” the World No. 5 said. “I made it to the semi-finals. I’ve been very consistent every week. This is good news. Today, mentally I was okay. I fought a lot until the end. I tried to look for solutions and I think I did that, but it wasn’t enough.

“I’m competitive. I’m second in the [Emirates ATP Race To London] because I’m competing. But the same way I lost, if you look at what happened out there, I could have won. You have to criticise yourself to be able to do things better. You have to criticise yourself to get better and better.

“I’m on a positive path. I hope to continue on this path. I feel happy competing. I’m comfortable. Also when I train, I train with a lot of joy to continue going this way.”

Nadal will look to cap a dominant five-week stretch on the ATP World Tour when the Spaniard returns to the Internazionali BNL d’Italia next week. The seven-time champion has a tall order ahead of him in Rome, having been drawn into the same quarter as top seed Novak Djokovic, with #NextGen star Nick Kyrgios, Milos Raonic and Gael Monfils also looming large. But the Spaniard says he feels little pressure returning to his happy hunting ground.

“You feel happy when you have less pressure. When you feel good you don’t have so much pressure on you. We still have two tournaments in the clay-court season and I achieved more [Emirates ATP Rankings] points than last year on clay. So this is something that we’ve seen.

“Also, the feeling that I have when I play in the court and the consistency that I’m showing and general level, it’s superior compared to last year’s. In these tournaments, I have been able to win two, and one making it to the semi-finals, so the clay season is great. Let’s try to continue this way and stay with the rhythm.”

Nicolas Mahut and Pierre-Hugues Herbert’s quest for ATP World Tour Masters 1000 history came to a halt on Saturday at the Mutua Madrid Open. No. 3 seeds Jean-Julien Rojer and Horia Tecau took out the No. 1 seeds in straight sets 6-2, 7-6(3) to end the Frenchmen’s 16-match winning streak and advance to the Madrid doubles final.

“We’re really happy to put together another good match. Three in a row this week,” Tecau said. “Now we’ve given ourselves a chance to play the final and fight for the title here in Madrid.”

Rojer/Tecau erased both break points faced and broke the Frenchmen twice to move into their first team ATP World Tour Masters 1000 final. Tecau lost in the Madrid final in 2012 with Robert Lindstedt. Rojer/Tecau also won 86 per cent of their first-serve points. “It’s one of our goals – to win a Masters (1000),” Tecau said.

The Frenchmen were trying to become the first doubles team to win the first four Masters 1000 events in the same year. In the quarter-finals, they already had beaten the last team that came close to the feat, Bob Bryan and Mike Bryan, who lost in the Madrid final in 2014.

Rojer/Tecau will play Rohan Bopanna and Florin Mergea in Sunday’s final. Rojer/Tecau will be going for their first title of 2016 and their 12^th in the past three years.

Andy Murray will play for his second consecutive Mutua Madrid Open final on Sunday after beating Rafael Nadal 7-5, 6-4 on Saturday. The World No. 2, who broke through against Nadal last year in Madrid to win his first ATP World Tour Masters 1000 title on clay, will play Novak Djokovic or Kei Nishikori and go for his 12^th Masters 1000 title.

The Brit controlled play for much of the match with a worldly mix of deep groundstrokes and deceptive drop shots. And when he needed to rely on his booming serve, he could. At 2-4 in the second set, Nadal had two break points to crawl his way back into the match against the No. 2 seed. But Murray climbed out of the hole, hitting a service winner to go up 5-2. The Brit hit eight aces and erased 11 of 13 break points faced during the match.

Nadal looked to be making a comeback again when he broke Murray at 3-5 in the second set. But Murray broke back to advance to Sunday’s final.

The two greats, who practiced together last week in Mallorca, have gone back and forth on clay in recent years. Murray beat Nadal in straight sets at last year’s final in Madrid. But at last month’s Monte-Carlo Rolex Masters, Nadal got the better of the Brit, coming back from a set down to win. The Spaniard also still leads their FedEx ATP Head2Head rivalry 17-7.