German dashes Murray’s hopes
World No 1 Andy Murray crashed out of the Australian Open, falling to German journeyman Mischa Zverev in a monumental fourthround upset.
The three-time grand slam champion struggled to handle the world No 50’s remarkable play at the net, slumping to a 7-5 5-7 6-2 6-4 defeat at Melbourne Park yesterday.
The shock result leaves the men’s draw wide open after defending champion Novak Djokovic was earlier eliminated in the second round.
It is the first time since 2004 that the top two men’s seeds have failed to reach the quarterfinals of a grand slam, and the first time this has happened at Melbourne Park since 2002.
‘‘I don’t know yet how I feel because everything is new to me and everything feels a little bit unreal,’’ Zverev said.
Murray was far from his best against the unheralded lefthander, struggling with his second serve and growing increasingly frustrated by his seeming inability to read the German’s play.
With an opportunity to take a 5-3 lead in the fourth set, Zverev looked like nerves may get the better of him, hitting a simple forehand smash into the net.
But he quickly regrouped, playing a series of remarkable shots at the net to pull off one of the biggest upsets in Open history.
‘‘Honestly, there were a few points where I don’t know how I pulled them off,’’ Zverev said.
Murray’s loss means Stan Wawrinka’s path to the final has become easier and he won through to the quarterfinals with a 7-6 (7-2) 7-6 (7-4) 7-6 (7-4) win over Italian Andreas Seppi in three tight sets.
Wawrinka’s clutch efforts in tiebreaks were critical to his success.
"I was a little bit down and I’m really happy with the way I finished the match. It’s a great feeling to be back in the quarterfinals here,’’ Wawrinka said.
Wawrinka will meet JoWilfried Tsonga, who ended the fairytale run of Britain’s Dan Evans. The veteran Frenchman, who enjoyed his own storybook run to the final in 2008, took time to find his groove but finished full of running to down the 26-year-old Evans 6-7(4) 6-2 6-4 6-4 in two hours and 53 minutes.
Meanwhile, Venus Williams has returned to the quarterfinals for the ninth time at the Australian Open, where she first made the last eight on debut in 1998.
The 36-year-old, seven-time major winner had a 6-3, 7-5 fourthround win yesterday over No 181-ranked Mona Barthel, who won three matches in qualifying and then beat two Australian wild cards and Olympic gold medalist Monica Puig in the first three rounds.
Williams will next play No 24seeded Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, who beat No 8 Svetlana Kuznetsova 6-3, 6-3 in the opening match yesterday at Rod Laver Arena.
Pavlyuchenkova’s win over fellow Russian Kuznetsova left Williams as the only grand slam winner left in that quarter of the draw.
‘‘I was really challenged to play my best tennis,’’ Williams said. ‘‘It’s wonderful to get through to the quarterfinals against an opponent who’s on fire.’’
Williams hasn’t advanced beyond the quarterfinal round at Melbourne Park since her loss to younger sister, Serena, in the 2003 final. But she hasn’t lost a set en route year.
Against Barthel, she won 90 percent of points when she got her first serve into play, hit 31 winners and four aces while not serving any double-faults.
‘‘This is what you do all the hard work in the off-season for,’’ she said. ‘‘It’s wonderful to be able to advance even further.’’
Barthel was the lowest-ranked to the quarterfinals this player to reach the fourth round of the women’s draw here since 2010, although she has a career-high ranking of 23 and was consistently top 50 before an illness last year caused her slide down the rankings.
‘‘I know what it’s like to be down on my luck,’’ Williams said. ‘‘We’ve played a couple of touch matches before. Today I expected to have some competition.’’