Murray out of Aussie Open

MELBOURNE. — A resilient Roger Federer showed there was life in the 35-year-old’s legs as he overhauled fifth seed Kei Nishikori 6-7(4), 6-4, 6-1, 4-6, 6-3 to book a place in the Australian Open tennis quarter-finals yesterday.

After six months out of the game, Federer’s fairytale return continued under the lights of Rod Laver Arena where he emphatically quashed doubts about his fitness in three hours and 24 minutes of high-octane tennis.

Having stormed into the match after a 90-minute demolition of Tomas Berdych, Federer showed his appetite for a grind, going toe-to-toe with the fleet-footed Japanese in a match of marathon points.

He sealed the match with an imperious smash down the line and will play Mischa Zverev for a place in the semifinals.

World No. 1 Andy Murray suffered a huge upset to 50th-ranked Mischa Zverev to follow Novak Djokovic to the exit as the shocks kept rolling at the Australian Open yesterday.

Murray was never expected to be troubled by the 29-year-old German, who has never won an ATP title, but he lost 7-5, 5-7, 6-2, 6-4 in his earliest Melbourne departure in eight years.

Zverev’s serve-volley triumph blows the draw even wider open with the top two seeds out before the quarterfinals for the first time in a Grand Slam since the 2004 French Open.

Among the beneficiaries could be Federer and Rafael Nadal, who downed Zverev’s younger brother Alexander in a titanic five-setter on Saturday.

Alexander (19) was watching courtside as Zverev stretched to a series of elastic volleys to halt the nonplussed Murray. Nearly half of Zverev’s points were from serve and volleys.

“I was like in a little coma, just serving and volleying my way through it. There were a few points where I didn’t know how I pulled it off but somehow I made it,” Zverev said.

With the defeat, Murray extends his curse at the Australian Open, where he has been runner-up five times – losing four finals to Djokovic – without lifting the trophy.

He also makes the earliest exit for an Australian Open top seed in 14 years, since Lleyton Hewitt fell at the same stage in 2003.

Zverev, a late bloomer after a career riddled with injuries, reaches his first Grand Slam quarterfinal where he will play his idol Federer or Japanese fifth seed Nishikori.

Stanislas Wawrinka, who won the first of his three Grand Slam titles in Melbourne in 2014, came through 7-6 (7-2), 7-6 (7-4), 7-6 (7-4) against Italy’s Andreas Seppi. — AFP