| Stanislas Wawrinka from Switzerland put an end to Andy Murray's dreams of winning this year's US Open with a 7-6 (7-3), 6-7 (4-7), 3-6, 3-6 victory in the US Open third-round clash on Sunday.
The British number one and fourth seed looked to be on course to advance into the fourth round when he battled back from 5-3 down to take the first set.
The Scot surged into a commanding lead in the second, only to allow his opponent to come storming back and level the set by returning a tiebreak win.
From then on Murray crumbled both physically and mentally, losing his cool on several occasions whilst also requiring treatment for a number of issues.
Talking about physical issues for court treatment, Murray said: "The first time, just tightness in my quad; the second time, just getting sort of pins and needles around my right elbow."
Murray did not like to attribute the defeat to fatigue, but instead to give his credit to his opponent. "I have not been really tired in any long matches for a long, long time," said Murray. "So whether it was fatigue or not, I don't know."
"He (Wawrinka) played better than me. There's not a whole lot more to it. He had a chance to win the first set; didn't take it," said Murray.
"I had a chance to win the second set; didn't take it. I just struggled from then on. Maybe in the third and fourth sets, I was disappointed, you know, that I was struggling physically. I tried to find a way to come back. Didn't quite do it."
Wawrinka also required medical work from the trainer but managed to summon the strength to take the third and fourth sets by a 6-3 margin.
The 25th-ranked Swiss earned a fourth-round berth after a three hours 56 minutes epic victory against 20th-seeded American Sam Querrey.
Murray's US Open hopes, so promising just a week ago, were shattered for another year.
"I've never won one (Grand Slam), so, you know, I don't have the secret answer to that," said the Scot. "I think you need to play your best tennis during the tournament, and that's it. That's the only way to win one."
"There are a lot of tough players out there just now. If you don't play well enough, you're not going to win."
Talking about John McEnroe's comment of "Andy is fighting himself as much as Wawrinka", Murray said: "Yeah, I was disappointed that I've been really in that position for a long time, so maybe something to do with it," |
