Top-seed Murray upset and ousted
Unseeded, 50thranked Zverev scores unlikely victory
MELBOURNE, Australia — Top-seeded Andy Murray is out of the Australian Open, the five-time finalist losing in four sets in a Sunday afternoon (Australia time) upset to Mischa Zverev.
The No. 50-ranked Zverev attacked Murray and unsettled the five-time finalist. The left-hander won 65 of 118 points at the net in a 7-5, 5-7, 6-2, 6-4 upset on Rod Laver Arena.
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.
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 top-seeded player at the Australian Open since Lleyton Hewitt’s third-round departure in 2003.
And this not even the Zverev brother tipped to go this far at the Australian Open. The 19-year-old Alexander Zverev, widely touted as a potential major winner, led by two sets to one before losing to 14-time Grand Slam champion Rafael Nadal in the third round on Saturday.
Elsewhere, Venus Williams 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, seventime major winner had a 6-3, 7-5 fourth-round win 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. 24-seeded Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, who beat No. 8 Svetlana Kuznetsova 6-3, 6-3 in the opening match of Day Seven 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 to the quarterfinals this 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 lowestranked player to reach the fourth round of the women’s draw here since 2010, although she has a careerhigh 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.”
Stanford products Bob n and Mike Bryan are retiring from Davis Cup play after 14 years representing the United States.