US Open 2013 Day 11: Murray's defence foiled by Wawrinka
Wimbledon.com's highlights from the eleventh day of play at the 2013 US Open in Flushing Meadows, New York...
The upset
Stanislas Wawrinka d. Andy Murray 6-4, 6-3, 6-1
'Iron Man Stan' they're calling him. And the Swiss No.2 lived up to the billing, armed with a perfect plan and perfect execution to upset Andy Murray in straight sets, ending the US Open champion's title defence at the quarter-final stage for the first time since Andy Roddick in 2004. Wawrinka did everything right while Murray could not do a whole lot right, trashing his racket after dropping a tight first set. From there, the wheels fell off as Wawrinka upped his winner ante, crunching down 45 to offset his 37 unforced errors, while Murray's 30 unforced errors far outpaced his 15 winners.
Wawrinka thus becomes the third Swiss man to reach the US Open semi-finals, after Marc Rosset and Roger Federer. Murray meanwhile lost to a player ranked below him at a non-clay court Grand Slam for the first time since losing to Wawrinka here in 2010 in the third round. Eerie.
"I'm disappointed. But the year on the whole has been a good one," Murray said.
Leander Paes & Radek Stepanek d. Bob & Mike Bryan 3-6, 6-3, 6-4
The calendar Slam dream is over. The defending champions, who won all four majors in a row from Olympic Gold, the US Open, the Australian Open, the French Open, and Wimbledon, could not complete their challenge of winning all four in a year as they were upset by rivals Paes & Stepanek. It looked like the Bryans were well on track, but the Indian-Czech combo, the fourth seeds, got a foot in, and didn't look back. And this time, unlike in other crunch matches this year, the Bryans could not find that something special.
"We're very disappointed," said Bob Bryan. "But in one sense it's a little bit of a relief where you get to exhale for the first time in a few months. Today all that kind luck that's been on our side went against us. Those guys played a great match. Now we can move on and work on the next run."
Cruising through
Novak Djokovic
He may have dropped a set, but the world No.1 never looked like losing to Mikhail Youzhny.
Serena & Venus Williams d. Sara Errani & Roberta Vinci 6-3, 6-1
Given that Errani and Vinci are the top seeds, this should be an upset. But Serena & Venus remain the absolute best on a doubles court together when they
Quote of the day
"I don't know if I'm meant to win every Grand Slam that I play."
Andy Murray
Stat of the day
0
Break points produced by Andy Murray during his loss to Wawrinka. The only other time he has failed to produce a single break point in a Grand Slam match was in 2008, against Rafael Nadal in the Wimbledon quarter-finals.
Come back tomorrow for
ARTHUR ASHE
12.30pm - Mixed Doubles Final
Abigail Spears & Santiago Gonzalez v Andrea Hlavackova & Max Mirnyi [7]
NB 1.45pm - Women's Singles Semi-final
Flavia Pennetta v Victoria Azarenka [2]
NB 3.45pm - Women's Singles Semi-final
Serena Williams [1] v Li Na [5]
After rest - Women's Doubles Semi-final
Serena & Venus Williams v Andrea Hlavackova & Lucie Hradecka [5]
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For all the reports and results from Flushing Meadows, visit the Official US Open website
