The summer’s best player will not be a part of championship weekend at the U.S. Open. Andy Murray, the Wimbledon winner and Rio Olympics gold medalist in men’s singles, succumbed to Kei Nishikori 1-6, 6-4, 4-6, 6-1, 7-5 in a quarterfinal thriller on Wednesday afternoon.
A entertaining battle that was just what the doctor ordered for the Flushing Meadows faithful on the heels of two disappointingly routine quarterfinal matches one day earlier, Murray vs. Nishikori featured wild momentum swings for all of three hours and 57 minutes. A split of the first four sets included two 6-1 routs, one in each man’s favor.
That set the stage for a tense, back-and-forth fifth, during which arguably the point of the tournament came with Murray serving down break point at 5-5, 30-40. The world No. 2 tracked down a drop shot and responded with a strong backhand pass, but Nishikori lunged for a forehand volley that dropped well in for a decisive winner. Japan’s top player promptly produced a routine service hold at 6-5 to clinch one of the biggest wins of his career.
“It was really difficult match,” Nishikori noted. “I didn’t quite start well and lost (the first set) 6-1. I felt it was really quick and I was rushing a little bit and [making] too much unforced errors. But after rain delay I think I [worked a] little bit with my coach and I tried to change a little bit my tennis and start working a little bit better. I started get my rhythm back.
“Especially (in the) fifth set it was really tough. I was up 4-3, 40-love and lost the game. So there [were] many up and downs, but I tried to (remain) calm. I think that’s the most important thing I did today. Even though there [were] many up and downs, I tried to stay tough.”
“I’m not disappointed in a way,” Murray said. “Obviously I would have loved to have won, but I have had a good run every match. I would have loved to have gone further, but it wasn’t to be today…. I tried my best. I fought as hard as I could with what I had today. I didn’t let anyone down. Certainly not myself. I pushed myself as hard as I could over the last few months, and I’m very proud of how I have done.”
Perhaps nobody should be more proud of the effort he has put forth over the last few months than Juan Martin Del Potro. Making a comeback from yet another wrist surgery, Del Potro upset Stan Wawrinka in the Wimbledon second round and earned the silver medal at the Olympics before making a run to the U.S. Open quarters. But it was none other than Wawrinka who exacted revenge on Wednesday night with a 7-6(5), 4-6, 6-3, 6-2 victory.
Unaccustomed to playing so much in such a short frame of time, the workload proved to be one match too much for Del Potro. The 2009 champion in New York made a big push to even the score by taking the second set, but it was all Wawrinka the rest of the way. Surrendering a grand total of 12 points in 10 service games during the third and fourth sets, the third-ranked Swiss powered into a third career U.S. Open semifinal.
“(Del Potro is) not a player that I can really play always the way I want (against) because he’s so aggressive,” Wawrinka explained. “It was important to stay tough. I knew it [would] be difficult. But I’m happy with the way I was fighting. I’m happy with the way I [found a] solution in the third set. I saw also that he was starting to go a little bit down; I took advantage of that.”
“I think my tennis is starting to respond as I want,” Del Potro commented, “but physically I’m still down. I’m not [at] the same level [as] these guys…. I’m already top 100, so that’s good. Everything here is positive for me.”
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