Rafael Nadal produced one of his best performances of the year to beat Andy Murray 6-4 6-1 at the ATP World Tour Finals and move within sight of the semi-finals yesterday.

The 29-year-old 14-times grand slam champion looked more like the dominant player of old as he edged a tight first set at London’s O2 Arena before running away with the match.

With two wins out of two the Spaniard is almost sure of one of the top two places in the Ilie Nastase Group.

Murray, who beat Spaniard Ferrer in his opener, faded badly in the second set after Nadal finally broke serve decisively in the 10th game having wasted several earlier opportunities.

Britain’s world number two, who has one eye on next week’s Davis Cup final in Belgium, looked distracted, surrendering nine points in a row early in the second set, and Nadal needed no second invitation to press home his advantage.

Murray, who bizarrely trimmed his fringe during a changeover in the first set, can still reach the semis by beating Wawrinka in his final round-robin match tomorrow.

Resurgent Nadal’s late-season form, including tournament finals in Beijing and Basel, have lifted him to fifth in the world rankings, having fallen to 10th during a torrid summer.