Second seed and last year’s runner-up Andy Murray has crashed out of the U.S.Open at the fourth round stage, losing in straight sets to Croatian 16th seed Marin Cilic on Tuesday.
Briton Murray, who was seeded to face holder Roger Federer in a repeat of last year’s Flushing Meadows final, looked lackluster throughout the match as Cilic comfortably reached his first grand slam quarterfinal with a 7-5 6-2 6-2 victory in two hours and eight minutes. Cilic will now face Argentine Juan Martin Del Potro for a place in the semifinals, after the sixth seed secured a comfortable 6-3 6-3 6-3 victory over Spanish 24th seed Juan Carlos Ferrero. “I played very well and Andy was missing a lot,” Cilic told reporters. “I don’t think he was playing his best. It feels amazing to reach the quarters,” added the 20-year-old, who is the youngest player in the world’s top 20. Murray had beaten Cilic in their three prior meetings, most recently in the fourth round of this year’s French Open, but looked off-form from the start.
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The Briton had come back from two sets to love down at the same stage of last year’s tournament to beat Austrian Jurgen Melzer en route to his first grand slam final. But he only won four games out of the last 18 to slump out on his favorite hard-court surface.
