Andy Murray will have to wait
until next year for another crack at a Grand Slam.
Suffering
an ignominious defeat to South African Kevin Anderson in four sets, Murray
looked frustrated and often powerless against a non-household name playing out
of his skin.
Anderson
took the game 7-6, 6-3, 6-7, 7-6.
Murray,
the World No. 3, complained to himself and the umpire repeatedly -- often in
expletive-laden tirades caught on camera -- about everything from perceived
game delays by Anderson to line calls.
The
truth is, it just wasn't his day.
Going
into the match, the 29-year-old Anderson was an unlikely candidate to dominate
a former U.S. Open and Wimbledon champion.
In
his ninth year on the pro circuit, Anderson has had only three tour victories
to his name and never advanced beyond the fourth round at a Grand Slam.
But
the 6'8" Johannesburg native was a force throughout the match, battling
nerves only occasionally. He was broken early in the third set before losing it
on a tiebreak, before coming back with an assured performance in the fourth
set.
Anderson
played aggressively and took chances, pouring 25 aces past a sometimes helpless
Murray, who was denied a 20th consecutive Grand Slam quarterfinal run.
He
hit 81 winners during the match against Murray's 49, and rushed the net 58
times versus 24 approaches for Murray. In fact, Anderson has been the most
prolific net player in the entire U.S. Open, often displaying a graceful touch
belying his giant frame.
"I'm
a little lost for words right now. I was just trying to keep my composure
against Andy, and I honestly played one of the best matches of my life,"
said Anderson, who clinched the fourth set tiebreak to win.
"He's
such a fighter, and such an amazing player, I knew I had to try my best and
just stick with it," he said.
Federer
raises game to down Isner
World
No. 2 Roger Federer faced No. 13 seed John Isner in the late match in Arthur
Ashe Stadium, ultimately handling the big American's serve in three tight sets,
winning the match 7-6, 7-6, 7-5. The Swiss player made his way to the
quarterfinals for the 11th time with a vintage Federer performance, keeping
alive his hopes of raising the trophy at Flushing Meadows for a sixth time.
Federer
kept his nerve throughout, not losing his serve to Isner once. For his part,
Isner fought back gamely, only losing his serve once at the very end, and
taking nine break points away from the winner. However, he was not able to
match his 2011 U.S. Open-best quarterfinal result.
Obviously
John has one of the best serves in the game," Federer said after the win.
"You just gotta hang around and make sure you don't drop your serve."
The
34-year-old, 17-time Grand Slam men's singles champion has been on form
throughout the summer, climbing back up the rankings to breathe down world
number one Novak Djokovic. He's next set to play 12 seed Richard Gasquet in the
quarterfinals.
Missing
shoes
Temperatures
soared once again on the hard courts of Flushing Meadow in a competitive, and
sometimes quirky, eighth day of action at the U.S. Open.
French
Open champion Stan Wawrinka took four sets to cruise past American upstart
Donald Young, in a match that saw a bizarre build-up.
Young
-- who had battled back from two sets down in his previous two matches at the
Open -- had his locker mistakenly cleared out the day before the match, leaving
him scrambling to find equipment until shortly before the match.
"Unfortunately,
I came to the locker room yesterday and I opened it up and it was clean,"
said Young, a former junior World No 1. "Like a couple shirts missing, all
my shoes were gone, and apparently someone said I was out of the tournament, so
the guys thought I went home. They were taking some souvenirs."
Young
showed some signs of life, taking the second set from Warwinka 6-1, before
dropping the third and fourth sets.
Warwinka
will face Anderson in an intriguing quarterfinal matchup.
Meanwhile,
Victoria Azarenka of Belarus, who opened play in Arthur Ashe Stadium on Monday,
took just under one hour to knock out her fourth round opponent American
Varvara Lepchenko, in straight sets.
Severe
heat
Twentieth
seed Azarenka will face Simona Halep, the No. 2 seed from Romania, in the
quarterfinal. Halep defeated power-serving German Sabine Lisicki in a tense
three-setter which saw a 10-minute heat break between the second and third
sets.
Halep
was quick to point out that it was her opponent who called for a break,
although she certainly didn't mind the breather. The temperature in New York --
which consistently topped 32?C (90?F) last week -- touched 33?C (92?F) on
Monday.
"I
was fighting till the end. I did everything I could to win the match,"
said Halep, who, though visibly elated, added that she had a mixed doubles
match scheduled for later in the day. "I'm tired, I can say."
The
first round of this year's U.S. Open witnessed a record 12 withdrawals,
reigniting speculation that hard courts are more punishing on tennis players
than clay and grass surfaces.
A
leading sports physicist claimed before Wimbledon that grass was significantly
cooler than hard courts on a hot day, which -- along with less grip on the
surface -- explained the relatively low number of Wimbledon withdrawals versus
those in the U.S. Open and the Australian Open over the years.
"On
a hot day like 40?C (104?F), the temperature on the court itself can be 60?C
(140?F). If you took your shoes off you'd actually burn the skin off your
feet," said Professor Rod Cross from Sydney University. "That's
physically exhausting and I think it's crazy to have courts that are so
hot."
Last
week, American Jack Sock fainted on the court, leading to a forfeiture of his
second round match.
New
Yorkers are expected to face more warm weather on Tuesday before temperatures
cool off over the rest of the week.
Serena
slam
Meanwhile,
another Grand Slam chapter of the somewhat lacklustre head-to head series of
Williams sisters battles is set to take place in a quarterfinal match on
Tuesday.
Serena
Williams will face her sister, No. 23 seed Venus Williams, in a rematch of
their fourth round match at Wimbledon. Serena won that match 6-4 6-3, on her
way to winning her sixth Wimbledon title.
Serena
is vying for her first career calendar Grand Slam, having won all three of the
previous majors in 2015. No female player has achieved the feat since Steffi
Graf in 1988.
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