Monday 6 September 2010

Men's US Open - Wawrinka shocks Murray

The 3rd round was completed with the biggest shock so far in the tournament as Andy Murray was sensationally dumped out of the US Open by an inspired Stanislas Wawinka, 3-6 7-6 6-3 6-3. Wawrinka make a great start to the match and served for the first set at 5-3 however Wawrinka stalled as he has done many times in his career as Murray raised his game superbly and went onto to take the first set. Murray looked to be on course for a routine win after twice taking leads in the second set however he suffered several lapses in concentration making routine errors and giving Wawrinka a second chance in the match. Wawrinka duly took advantage in the tiebreak against an increasingly frustrated Murray and levelled at one set all. In the third set, both players had medical timeouts but it was Murray who was physically struggling the most as Wawrinka remained composed and produced some dazzling winners as Murray literally crumbled on the court as he saw his chances slipping away. Murray did not play a bad match but Wawrinka was by far the superior player and finished off a dramatically entertaining encounter in superb fashion claiming the final two sets. Once again, Andy Murray has been left disappointed at a grand slam and although he was evidently struggling physically, this performance higihlighted a question of whether he has the right temperament and ability to raise his game at the latter stages of a grand slam. Murray's attitude was especially poor in the final two sets and he gave the impression to Wawrinka that he was not capable of winning the match.

In other matches, Sam Querrey eased past Nicolas Almagro, 6-3 6-4 6-4 to set up a 4th round encounter with Wawrinka. Mikhail Youzhny continued his impressive form as he beat John Isner in 4 sets, 6-4 6-7 7-6 6-4 and will now play Tommy Robredo after Michael Llodra had to retire at 2 sets to 1 down. Sergey Stakhovsky also had to retire handing Feliciano Lopez a route into the 4th round where he will face world number one, Rafael Nadal. Nadal produced a solid and confident performance in dispatching Giles Simon, 6-4 6-4 6-2. Simon admitted afterwards that his mind was elsewhere following the birth of his first child.

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