50th-ranked Zverev ousts No. 1 Murray
MELBOURNE – Andy Murray won’t be breaking his Australian Open title drought this year after a stunning fourth-round loss to 50thranked Mischa Zverev.
The top-ranked Murray, a fivetime Australian Open finalist, was unsettled by the left-handed serve and volleyer in a 7-5, 5-7, 6-2, 6-4 upset loss Sunday on Rod Laver Arena.
Zverev attacked Murray, unsettling his natural baseline game, and won 65 of 118 points at the net.
The 29- year- old German made some stunning, lunging volleys on clutch points, but for him it was all a blur.
“Honestly, I don’t know, it was like I was in a little coma, I just served and volleyed my way through,” Zverev said. “Honestly there were a few points where I don’t know how I pulled it off.”
Murray joins six- time defending champion Novak Djokovic, beaten in the second round by wild-card entry Denis Istomin, on the sidelines for the second week at Melbourne Park.
It’s the first time since 2002 that neither the No. 1 nor the No. 2 seed has reached the Australian Open quarterfinals.
“Right now I’m down,” Murray said. “But I’ve had tough losses before and come back from them.”
Murray had not lost to a player ranked as low at a major in a decade since his loss to No. 51 Juan Ignacio Chela at Melbourne Park in 2006. It was also the earliest exit by a topseeded player at the Australian Open since Lleyton Hewitt’s third-round departure in 2003.
She will next play No. 24-seeded Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, who beat No. 8 Svetlana Kuznetsova 6-3, 6-3 and who had never gone past the third round in eight previous trips to Melbourne Park.
Meanwhile, Stan Wawrinka’s campaign for a second Australian Open title stepped up a gear as the hard-working Swiss fended off Italian journeyman Andreas Seppi 7-6(2) 7-6(4) 7-6(4) to reach his fourth quarterfinal.