Murray crashes out as Venus makes quarters
World No 1 Andy Murray has crashed out of the Australian Open tennis tournament, falling to German journeyman Mischa Zverev in a fourth-round upset.
The three-time grand slam champion struggled to handle world No 50 Zverev’s remarkable play at the net, slumping to a 7-5, 5-7, 6-2, 6-4 defeat at Melbourne Park last night.
And this is 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.
It is the first time since 2004 that the top two men’s seeds have failed to reach the quarter-finals of a grand slam after defending champion Novak Djokovic was eliminated in the second round.
Murray, who has lost five Australian Open finals, dropped his serve eight times in the match that went 3 hours, 34 minutes.
It’s the first time since 2002 neither the No 1 nor the No 2 men’s seed has reached the Aussie quarter-finals.
In a day of thrillers, fourth seed Stan Wawrinka, of Switzerland, beat Italian Andreas Seppi 7-6 (2), 7-6 (4), 7-6 (4). Wawrinka’s clutch efforts in tiebreaks were critical to his success, achieved in two hours, 43 minutes.
New favourite Wawrinka faces a last eight showdown against JoWilfried Tsonga, who last night beat resurgent Brit Dan Evans 6-7 (4), 6-2, 6-4, 6-4 in just under three hours. It’s the Frenchman’s first quarterfinal in Melbourne for four years.
Venus Williams has returned to the quarter-finals for the ninth time where she reached the same round on debut in 1998.
The 36-year-old, seven-time major tennis winner had a 6-3, 7-5 fourthround win yesterday over No 181ranked Mona Barthel, who won three matches in qualifying and then beat two Australian wild cards and Olympic gold medallist Monica Puig in the first three rounds.
Williams advanced without dropping a set, finding her rhythm quickly after pulling out of the ASB Classic in Auckland and withdrawing from the doubles at the Australian Open because of an elbow problem. “It was just not ideal to start the year like this, and it was a ton of anxiety, to be honest,” Williams said of her preparation. “But really, at the end of the day, it’s about walking to the net, shaking hands as the winner. This is where you want to be but this is not the endall for me. This is not the end goal.”
Williams will next play No 24seeded Russian Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, who beat No 8 Svetlana Kuznetsova 6-3, 6-3. Pavlyuchenkova’s win over Kuznetsova left Williams as the only grand slam winner left in that quarter of the draw. Williams has a 3-2 edge in career meetings with Pavlyuchenkova.