Andy Murray suffers shock Australian Open defeat to Mischa Zverev

Only for the second time since Australian Open 2011, Andy Murray will not reach the quarter-final of a Grand Slam, as he was toppled by incredible Mischa Zverev by 7-5 5-7 6-2 6-4 in 3 hours and 34 minutes!

Roger Federer relaxed into the chair, his arms folded across his chest in a casual, confident way, and just savored a vintage Australian Open performance. I feel like that’s something I get asked all the time when I lose matches. When asked how he did it, the World No. 50 replied: “You should tell me how I did it”.

Zverev, a late bloomer after a career riddled with injuries, reaches his first Grand Slam quarter-final where he will play his idol Federer or Japanese fifth seed Nishikori.

When reigning champion Novak Djokovic departed in the second round at the hands of world number 117 Denis Istomin, Murray must have thought he would never get a better chance to win the year’s first grand slam.

“Right now I’m down”, Murray said.

The first set was absorbing, with both men breaking the other back-to-back before Zverev won the final three games to take the set in 63 minutes.

From 40-15 up, Murray lost his service game in the very first game, courtesy some top level tennis from Mischa Zverev.

Kerber will face unseeded U.S. player Coco Vandeweghe in the fourth round after she came through a tough battle with Canada’s Eugenie Bouchard 6-4, 3-6, 7-5. A five-time runner-up in Australia, Murray has reached the title match at Melbourne in five of the last seven years.

The British top seed’s serve was broken eight times and he made 66 forced errors, testament to the constant pressure put on him by Zverev, who won a staggering 65 points at the net and served and volleyed 119 times.

He has fought his way back up the rankings with a serve-and-volley style that he used to great effect against Murray. Carried by this momentum, Zverev went on to make another break at the start of the 4th set, and he finished his wonderful assault after 7 straight games!

With Murray looking better in the second set, one expected the Scot to continue his impressive play in the third as well.

Two-time major victor Svetlana Kuznetsova was broken twice while serving for the match before finally finishing off former No. 1-ranked Jelena Jankovic 6-4, 5-7, 9-7 in 3 ½ hours.

Pressed on whether he missed a golden opportunity to finally win the Australian Open after the elimination of two-time defending champion Djokovic, Murray said: “I don’t know”.

Murray didn’t look comfortable in any of the sets, succumbing to a 5-7, 7-5, 2-6, 4-6 defeat and making an exit from the tournament.

A year ago, Zverev was ranked No. 171 in the world, a long way from automatic qualifying into Grand Slams.