Murray's Melbourne Dream Fades Away As Verdasco Wins Five-setter

Andy Murray's hopes of reaching a second successive grand slam final were ended in the fourth round of the Australian Open by Fernando Verdasco, a player who he had beaten in all five of their previous meetings. The left-handed Spaniard, seeded No14, was an integral part of Spain's Davis Cup-winning team last year, and has clearly grown immensely in confidence as a result, though this was a match that swung first one way and then the other.

It was a hugely disappointing exit for Murray who some, somewhat foolishly, had been made the pre-tournament favorite on the strength of his early season form. But the slams are something quite different, and for much of this match Murray still looked as if he was suffering from the aftermath of his illness last week, albeit it was not the case initially.

Murray began where he had left off against Spain's Marcel Granollers and Jürgen Melzer of Austria in the second and third rounds. He moved the ball around superbly, leaving Verdasco with no margin for error at all. It was not an excessively hot day, though Murray was careful to keep in the shade at the back of the court as much as possible between points. Occasionally the Spaniard unleashed a thundering forehand, but Murray appeared totally assured. There was not a cloud in the sky, and seemingly none on his horizon.

This was the best of Murray, power and subtlety mixed in equal proportions to perplex Verdasco in equal measure. But the shift came suddenly, and for no apparent reason. It began with some odd choices of shot early in the second set, with his mood lurching from positive to negative. It took Verdasco no time at all to sense that matters had changed radically, and he stepped up the pressure accordingly.

Verdasco had spent the winter months in Las Vegas, training with Gil Reyes, Andre Agassi's former fitness guru, and there were moments when he seemed to moving twice as fast. Murray was so flat that the only conclusion was that the bout of illness was taking its toll.

However such thoughts were dispelled in the third set that Murray won just as easily as the first. There seemed no apparent rhyme or reason, and the crowd in the HiSense stadium, the equivalent of Wimbledon's No1 court, were understandably unsure what to expect next. Neither player had dropped a set previously while Verdasco had conceded a mere 12 games in the three opening rounds - all of which now counted for nothing.

Neither did Murray's third set recovery. The Spaniard broke him early in the fourth, making a fifth inevitable. Both had played 12 five set matches before in their career, with Murray at 8-4 and Verdasco 7-5, with the Spaniard's most recent being in the final of the Davis Cup against Argentina when he clinched the tie against Jose Acasuso.

Murray had break points in the sixth game but could not force the breakthrough, and in the next Verdasco broke Murray to take a 4-3 lead, and going on to serve out for a 2-6, 6-1, 1-6, 6-3, 6-4 victory in 3hr 12 min. So, like Tim Henman and Greg Rusedski before, Murray has yet to get beyond the last 16 of the Australian Open.