Murray Stunned In Round Of 16

Sports Betting News - September 9th, 2009 - Written by John

It wasn't that a big name lost. After all, favorites have been dropping like flies in the Women's draw.

No, it was the way that big name lost that had the U.S. Open buzzing Tuesday. Suffering from a sore wrist and an inability to convert any of his break chances, no 2-ranked Andy Murray didn't win a single set and was annihilated by Marin Cilic, 7-5, 6-2, 6-2. It was a shocking finish given the fact that Murray had the best record among men on hard courts, going 37-3 heading into the match. Then add the fact that Cilic had never reached the quarterfinals in a Grand Slam, nor had he beaten a player ranked in the top-3, and the loss turned out to be the story of the tournament thus far.

"I don't know (what happened)," Murray told ESPN.com. "That's why I'm disappointed. I didn't find a way to get myself into the match."

It's not like Cilic was a far inferior opponent. On the contrary. At one point he was ranked the second-best junior player in the world and Tuesday was the fifth time he reached the round of 16.

But Murray shot himself in the foot, at times, and was plagued by 29 unforced errors and only had 13 winning shots total.

"I just struggled," Murray added to ESPN. "I played poorly. Obviously, I'm very disappointed. Regardless of my wrist, I lost the match. I returned poorly. He served well, and that was really the difference."

For U.S. Open fans (save the Murray ones), this was the result they had been waiting for. In the women's bracket, fans already saw American Melanie Oudin go on the run of her life, beating no .4 Elena Dementieva, before beating no. 29 Maria Sharapova and then 13th-ranked Nadia Petrova. She became the youngest player to reach the quarterfinals at the Open since Serena Williams did it in 1999.

Murray twice had a chance to win the first game and gain some momentum that would have possibly allowed him to avoid the upset. However, Cilic came up with a critical break and took the set immediately after. Throughout the night Murray had 13 break opportunities and lost them all.

Cilic will now continue his run against six-seed Juan Martin del Potro, who had 22 aces and didn't drop a serve against Carlos Ferrero.

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