TOUR NEWS AUSTRALIAN OPEN

FOR ANDY MURRAY there was disappointment, but no excuses. “Sometimes at this level it comes down to a few points,” he said. “He served huge on the big points and I couldn’t do anything about it. Sometimes you have to suck it up and admit he was too good.”

Murray had won all five of his previous matches against Fernando Verdasco, but they counted for nothing when he was knocked out of the Australian Open by Spain’s 14th seed yesterday. The left-handed Spaniard, a sort of pocket battleship when compared to the destroyer that is Rafael Nadal, achieved a level of performance, notably on his serve, that he has rarely managed at any level. He beat Murray 2-6, 6-1, 1-6, 6-3, 6-4.

Spaniards had hinted Verdasco was a changed man since he won a five-set rubber against Jose Acasuso in Buenos Aires at the end of last year to clinch the Davis Cup for his country. Almost immediately he set off for Las Vegas to train with Gil Reyes, the former fitness guru of Andre Agassi, who won the Australian Open three times in four years principally thanks to Reyes’s punishing regime. Perhaps Reyes will become part of Team Murray some time in the future.

Not that fitness played a part in Murray’s downfall here, or at least it did only in the sense that he became ill the day he defeated another Spaniard, Marcel Granollers, in the second round.

That interrupted his practice schedule. Yesterday Murray, sensitive to criticism, refused to blame his illness for his defeat, though from courtside he looked pale and his energy levels were subject to sharp fluctuations.

“I understand how sport works. You cannot always play your best and sometimes guys play too well. There are upsets every week in sport,” he said.

In the first set Murray was exemplary, moving Verdasco around the court with consummate ease, rarely allowing him any of the kind of rhythm on which Spanish players thrive. There was not a cloud in the sky, and there were none on Murray’s horizon. Then, quite suddenly and for no obvious reason, he became flat, a little lethargic and negative. This happened frequently when Brad Gilbert was his coach, and the American was watching this match. “I knew he was there and it didn’t affect me,” said Murray. “When I won in Cincinnati last year he was courtside for all my matches and the week before in Toronto. It didn’t make a difference.”

Having lost the second set lamely, Murray snapped back in the third and appeared to have turned the match around, only for Verdasco to regain the initiative. He broke Murray’s serve early and then never looked like losing his own, his first-serve percentage coming close to perfection.

Aside from his illness, the other imponderable was the stress Murray felt from being made the pre-tournament favourite by some observers. Several players, notably Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic, bridled at the suggestion, not made by Murray, that his chances were better than theirs. Certainly he will not be in the same position at the next grand slam, the French Open.

Nadal believes he is in better form this season, but the Spaniard has stopped short of saying he will improve on his semi-final run at the Australian Open last year. The top seed saw off Fernando Gonzalez with a comfortable 6-3, 6-2, 6-4 victory. “I am playing a little bit better than last year, but I am not saying I’m going to be in the final,” he said.

Nadal will meet Gilles Simon in the quarter-finals.

Last year’s runner-up, Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, has also reached the last eight after a straight-sets win, 6-4, 6-4, 7-6, against James Blake, but said his concentration had been disrupted by an Australia Day fireworks display during their night match.

Meanwhile, Elena Dementieva extended her winning run to 14 matches with an easy 6-2, 6-2 fourth-round win over Dominika Cibulkova.

With world number one Jelena Jankovic, fifth seed Ana Ivanovic and sixth seed Venus Williams all falling by the wayside, attention has turned to the Russian fourth seed as a leading contender for the crown, with third seed Dinara Safina saying she is the one to beat.

Dementieva will play the unheralded Carla Suarez Navarro in the quarter-finals after she overcame fellow Spaniard Anabel Medina Garrigues 6-3, 6-2.

Suarez Navarro, who upset Venus Williams in the second round, has equalled her best result in a grand slam after also reaching the quarter-finals of the French Open last year.

Serena Williams and Svetlana Kuznetsova will play each other in the quarter-finals after the retirements of Victoria Azarenka and Jie Zheng, respectively, in their fourth-round matches.

Azarenka won the first set 6-3 against second seed Williams, but at 3-2 down in the second the 13th seed from Belarus took a medical time-out and left the court.

She returned to play another game and a half but, looking visibly distressed, she was unable to continue and had to be helped from the Rod Laver Arena.

Kuznetsova was 4-1 up in the first set of her match when Zheng retired with a wrist injury after falling in the third game and landing awkwardly on her hand.

Guardian Service