Andy Murray fell out of the US Open under a barrage of aces and service winners off the racquet of towering South African Kevin Anderson in a match that ended two grand slam streaks.
Anderson reached his first grand-slam quarter-finals with a 7-6 (7/5), 6-3, 6-7 (2/7), 7-6 (7/0) victory at Flushing Meadows after a string of seven losses in fourth round matches at grand slams.
Murray’s loss snapped the Briton’s run of having reached 18 consecutive grand slam quarter-finals.
“That’s obviously something that is disappointing to lose,” said the third-seeded Scot, who smashed his racquet in frustration after losing the second set. “That’s many years’ work that’s gone into building that sort of consistency.
“Also to lose a match like that, that was over four hours, tough obviously after a couple of tough matches earlier in the tournament, as well. It’s a hard one to lose, for sure.”
The defeat came at Louis Armstrong Stadium, the US National Tennis Center’s second court.
“That court is a lot quicker than Ashe. I felt like I was on the back foot quite a lot. Wasn’t able to play that offensively,” said Murray.
“But when you’re playing against someone that has the game style that he does, you’re always going to have to do a fair bit of defending, especially if he serves well.”
Murray lamented some lost chances against the 6ft 8in (2.03m) South African, seeded 15th.
“When you’re playing against players that are at that level, you need to make them think and then give them a chance to get nervous,” he said about how the match might have gone differently had he cashed in a couple of break points.
“I felt like I had my opportunities there but didn’t manage to capitalise on them.”
Murray, who has struggled with a head cold in the past week and battled back to victory in the second round from two sets down, did not blame fatigue.
“I was able to fight as I wanted to through to the end of the match. So I don’t think the amount of tennis I played played a part.
“It was more playing against Kevin on the court of that speed, and with him serving as well as he does, it’s a tricky match. It comes down to a few points in each set. He managed to get them today.”
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