Mixed doubles disappointment for Scottish clan

Barely a day goes by here without a Murray playing in Arthur Ashe Stadium. Yesterday it was the turn of Jamie and his partner, Liezel Huber, but they were unable to follow Andy's example from the previous day and lost their mixed doubles final to Zimbabwe's Cara Black and India's Leander Paes 7-6, 6-4.

Judy, Jamie's mother, and his grandparents, Shirley and Roy, were among a sparse crowd in the 23,000-capacity arena who saw a tight match decided by a handful of points. Murray, who was attempting to become the first British man to win a US Open title since Peter Curtis partnered Mary Ann Eisel to victory in the mixed in 1968, was by some way the least experienced of the four players. Huber, born in South Africa but now a US citizen, and Black are the world's No 1 ranked women's doubles pair, while Paes has won 39 men's doubles titles.

There were no breaks of serve in the first set, at the end of which Huber and Murray took a 5-2 lead in the tie-break. At 5-4 Murray created two set points with a smash behind a powerful serve, but Black's clever interception saved the first and Murray's netted volley levelled the score at 6-6. A Black service winner and a Paes volley completed the comeback.

The turning point of the second set came at 2-2, when Murray dropped his serve. It proved to be the only break of the match and Paes served out to complete victory after an hour and 37 minutes.

"It's tough to lose in the final, but it's been a good week for us," said Murray, who will bank a runners-up cheque of $35,000 (about £19,800) in prize-money. "We've won four good matches and it was another good tournament. We just came up a bit short today. I probably didn't put the ball in the court enough on the return, but apart from that it was a decent match."

Huber added: "Today it was all about which team was going to take it from the other team. They took it from us. We didn't give it to them."

Murray, who won the Wimbledon mixed doubles title last year with Jelena Jankovic, hopes to watch his brother play in tomorrow's singles semi-final against Rafael Nadal, but will be flying home later that evening whatever the result. The Davis Cup tie against Austria at the All England Club in a fortnight's time is the next date on his schedule.

"It's been a long year, with a lot of travelling," he said. "I'm ready to go home. I've been feeling it in the last few weeks, so I'll probably go home, try to sort things out in my new flat and go back to Scotland for a few days."

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