Murray goes down to Zverev, Federer beats Nishikori in five at Australian Open

First it was Novak Djokovic. Then it was Andy Murray.

The 2017 Australian Open has been defined by upsets, none bigger than Denis Istomin’s 7-6(8), 5-7, 2-6, 7-6(5), 6-4 second-round stunner against Djokovic. Three days later, Murray crashed out of Melbourne when Mischa Zverev pulled off a shocking 7-5, 5-7, 6-2, 6-4 victory.

Zverev never let the world No. 1 get into a rhythm, as he approached the net an incredible 118 times during the three hours and 33 minutes of action.

“(It was) definitely the best match of my life, not only because it was a best-of-five set match, (but) it was (also) at a slam,” the 29-year-old German commented. “I don’t know. It was just incredible…. I believed in myself. I believed in my game. I believed that playing serve-and-volley against him and slicing a lot, trying to destroy his rhythm was going to work–which it did in the end.”

“I didn’t see Novak’s match at all, but I can only comment on my match today,” Murray said when asked about the currently small margins on the ATP Tour, and therefore plenty of upsets. “Every time it was close points, I put Mischa under pressure. He came up with great stuff. That’s unfortunate for me and great for him. He deserves to be in the next round.”

There is no denying that Roger Federer deserves to be in the next round, as well, because the 35-year-old Swiss had to navigate a draw that included Tomas Berdych and Kei Nishikori just to reach the quarterfinals. After crushing Berdych in straight sets, Federer beat Nishikori 6-7(4), 6-4, 6-1, 4-6, 6-3 on Sunday night.

Federer lost the first four games of the match but raised his level dramatically, even battling back to force a tiebreaker in the first set. The four-time Aussie Open champion lost the ‘breaker but took immediate control thereafter by surrendering a combined five games in the second and third frames of play. Nishikori answered to take the fourth, but–despite being eight years his opponent’s junior–was the one who faded physically in the fifth.

“I felt great in the fifth, I must say, Federer declared. “Great energy. Even deep into the fourth I thought, ‘Yeah, fifth, here we go, no problem for me. I’m feeling good about my chances.’ I was playing positive tennis; I was playing offensive. I was playing way better than the first [two] rounds.”

“Physically I’m okay,” Nishikori indicated. “Really disappointed to lose like this. (I) started really well. He was playing good tennis, I think, especially in the middle, second and third sets. I maybe had some chance in (the) fifth set, but he was way too strong.”

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