Andy Murray's US Open preparations hit following Cincinnati Masters exit

 

Olympic champion Andy Murray suffered a second pre-US Open setback in as many weeks when he was knocked out of the Cincinnati Masters in the third round last night, losing 6-4 6-4 to France's Jeremy Chardy.

World number one Roger Federer, in contrast, needed just 62 minutes to get by 19-year-old Australian Bernard Tomic 6-2 6-4 and book his spot in the quarter-finals.

It was even easier for second seed Novak Djokovic who advanced after Nikolay Davydenko retired injured following a 6-0 first set that took just 33 minutes.

Murray, the defending champion who pulled out of last week's Toronto Masters with a knee injury after his opening match, never looked himself as he was broken in the seventh game of the first set by Chardy, who is in the draw as a lucky loser.

Neither player could hold serve in the opening five games of the second set but Chardy held firm to go up 4-2 and never looked back in the 98-minute match.

Chardy, ranked 38th, has been in good form of late, beating American Andy Roddick in the first round in Cincinnati after defeating compatriot and world number six Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in Toronto last week.

The 25-year-old took full advantage of Murray's less-than-potent serve and unforced errors to post his first win against the Scotsman in five attempts.

"I didn't serve particularly well. I got broken three times in the second set, which isn't good enough. I broke him a couple of times in the second," said Murray.

"I had a lot of close games on his serve in the first and second set and didn't convert enough chances, and, yeah, I didn't serve well enough."

Murray will head to the August 27-September 9 US Open with just three hardcourt games under his belt since his Olympic triumph on the grass courts at the All England Club but he says he is not worried about lack of preparation before Flushing Meadows.

"I won't play any more matches. Going into the big tournaments, sometimes I've won tournaments in the buildup and it hasn't helped me and then this year Wimbledon I lost in the first round at Queen's and made the final there for the first time," said Murray.

"So it doesn't normally have that much bearing. But, you know, obviously I would have liked to have done a bit better this week."

Chardy will now face Argentine Juan Martin del Potro who fought past Serb Viktor Troicki 7-6 2-6 6-1.

Federer will face American Mardy Fish who defeated Czech Radek Stepanek 6-3 6-3 in a repeat of the 2010 final here.

"It's his kind of surface, he's at home in America and so I am going to have my hands full," Federer said of Fish.

Djokovic will face Croatian Marin Cilic who defeated Spain's Pablo Andujar 7-6 6-2 after a disappointingly short encounter with Davydenko.

"It's never nice to win like that, it was obvious that he had problems as he wasn't able to serve over 90 miles per hour," said the Serb.

Canada's Milos Raonic pulled off a surprise 6-4 2-6 6-2 win over Czech fifth seed Tomas Berdych. Raonic will face Switzerland's Stanislas Wawrinka who won 6-3 6-3 over Japan's Kei Nishikori.

Reuters

Independent Comment
blog comments powered by Disqus
Caption competition
Caption competition
News in pictures
World news in pictures
Sport blogs

New day (slowly) rising – As Brasileirão gets underway, Brazilian football stumbles, rather than leaps into the future

The average Serie A crowd last year was 13,000 - comparable to Australia’s A-League.

by James Young

iBet: Mercedes and Hamilton to roar in Monaco

Monaco is a street circuit where driver ability is more important than anywhere else and if we take ...

by Gareth Purnell

On The Road at the Giro d’Italia: It sounds sadistic, but the team live for the mountain stages

Three weeks ago as I drove off the Eurostar, I remember thinking what a very long time it was until ...

by Martin Ayres

       
Andrew Mitchell: 'It's no good feeling hard done by'

Andrew Mitchell: 'It's no good feeling hard done by'

In his first interview since 'plebgate', the former Chief Whip opens up just enough to concede that, in politics, you have to take the rough with the smooth
Corruption and the FCO: Blue skies, white sands, dark clouds

Corruption and the FCO: Blue skies, white sands, dark clouds

Special report: Met police call for criminal inquiry into former diplomat's Cayman Islands rule
Fallen angel: Winona Ryder on bouncing back from her decade in the wilderness

Fallen angel: Winona Ryder bounces back

She owned the 1990s... but then she disappeared. Now, Ms Ryder is back with quite the bang in her latest role, as the wife of a notorious real-life Mob hitman.
Roman Polanski shakes Cannes Film Festival

Roman Polanski shakes Cannes Film Festival

The director's new film, 'Venus in Fur', is one of the raciest on offer
Rev Richard Coles: 'I don’t have any concerns that God is cross with me for being gay and eventually the Church won’t either'

Rev Richard Coles on the Church and homosexuality

The mellifluous, erudite and witty Coles is the nation's most pop-culture-friendly priest
'Baghdad likes to live from crisis to crisis': Civil war looms in Iraq

Patrick Cockburn: Civil war looms in Iraq

The governor of Kirkuk - one of the country's most violent but successful provinces - fears the worst
Written on the body: Tattooists at pains to point out their artistic credentials

Written on the body

Tattooists at pains to point out their artistic credentials
Conquering Everest: 60 facts about the world's tallest mountain

Conquering Everest: 60 facts about the world's tallest mountain

The IoS marks the sixtieth anniversary of Sir Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay first reaching the peak of the highest mountain on Earth
A new, and irreversible, Dust Bowl looms

Rupert Cornwell: A new, and irreversible, Dust Bowl looms

The destructive power of tornadoes will be as nothing once the Great Plains' vast underground water reserve dries up
Every creature's needless death diminshes us all

Philip Hoare: Every creature's needless death diminishes us all

A 60 per cent decline in our national species should alarm us, yet few of us act. But to mind more about animals would reflect well on society
Killing with kindness: Burma's religious battleground - and the monks at the heart of it

Killing with kindness: Burma's religious battleground

Six years ago, the world cheered the monks behind Burma’s Saffron Revolution. Now, a horrific new eruption of religious slaughter is being blamed on a 'Buddhist Bin Laden'.
Let's take it outside: Bill Granger's Bank Holiday feast

Let's take it outside: Bill Granger's Bank Holiday feast

You can’t always depend on the weather – but you can avoid the pitfalls of the British barbecue by preparing an elaborate outdoor feast indoors ahead of time...
The Calvin report: Stirring Champions League final shows how far English game must advance

The Calvin report

Stirring Champions League final shows how far English game must advance
10 big questions for the British & Irish Lions to answer

10 big questions for the British & Irish Lions to answer

Warren Gatland's squad fly Down Under aiming to do justice to the expectations – and hoping the Wallabies stay in the pub
The Last Word: Golf must end the hypocrisy before its halo slips totally

The Last Word

Golf must end the hypocrisy before its halo slips totally