Mid-set haircut fails to give Andy Murray the edge against Rafa Nadal

— -- Not even a mid-match haircut could rescue Andy Murray against a ruthless Rafael Nadal at the O2 Arena on Wednesday afternoon.

The world No.2 produced a pair of scissors from his bag and gave his fringe an impromptu trim three games into the match and confirmed later it had been getting in his eyes.

It didn't prove to be much help, though, with Murray going on to lose a tight opening set before being blown away in the second, as Nadal secured a 6-4, 6-1 victory at the World Tour Finals.

Did the incident belie any stress or preoccupation with next week's Davis Cup final? Murray gave an emphatic 'no' to that particular theory.

"I don't know why such minor things make such a big deal to you guys," Murray said when asked about it for the second time in his post-match press conference.

"I had some hair in my eye, and I just wanted to get rid of it. That literally took two seconds. That was it.

"It was nothing to do with next week or anything to do with the outcome of this match.

"I started the match extremely well, I think. I played a very good first game. Although I got broke in the second game, it was a good game. I was hitting the ball well. I held all the way through to four-all from that change of end.

"It wasn't like it was something that affected me at all after it happened."

Nadal enjoyed a smile when the incident was mentioned to him in his own press conference. "[He] was not at the right time to know that. He has practice before to try to know that," Nadal quipped. "[It] was good. It's a good solution, yeah." 

Meanwhile, Murray also played down any injury fears ahead of next week's Davis Cup final having clutched his left hamstring after dashing to reach a drop shot late on.

"That was just on one point at the end of the match," he added. "I pushed extremely hard to pick up the ball. But it's fine. Just a bit tight on that one run and it was fine after that."