TENNIS/US Open:When Andy Murray clattered into the drinks container by the umpire's chair during his 6-3, 6-3, 2-6, 7-5 US Open third-round defeat by South Korea's Lee Hyung-taik on Saturday, and then truculently kicked away a rubbish bucket as he headed back to the baseline, the crowd on the Grandstand Court immediately, as the Americans say, got on his case. The fans love Murray here, and he loves them, but they were not about to stand for such petulance in adversity.
It was an insignificant little incident, and Murray had genuinely been worried about injuring himself in such a situation, hence the swipe at the bin, but it was nevertheless symptomatic of the frustration that the youngster was experiencing. Lee played exceptionally well, barely making a mistake until the third set, yet had Murray's game been at the same level as the opening three months of the year, when he entered the top 10 for the first time, he might have won with something to spare.
It was probably always too much to expect, given the amount of play he has missed since injuring his wrist in mid-May, including the French Open and Wimbledon, that he could emulate or better his run to the fourth round last year, but he was understandably disappointed.
"It's my favourite tournament, and this is where I feel I can play my best tennis," he said. However, he knew well enough that practice, no matter how assiduous, is no substitute for match play, and against Lee his timing frequently deserted him, albeit under considerable and sustained pressure. Too many missed lines with his forehand, too many backhands buried halfway up the net.
"I'm just going to work on my game a lot over the next few weeks or months and really try and improve the things that I wasn't doing well in this tournament. Obviously I would have liked to have done better but I just couldn't do it. My timing was just a little bit off."
It was nothing compared with the defending champion Maria Sharapova's timing, though. The women's world number two, who went out in the third round against the 18-year-old Pole Agnieszka Radwanska, sprayed the ball all over the Arthur Ashe Arena.
Radwanska was Wimbledon junior champion two years ago and junior French champion last year, and may turn out rather special. She has excellent variety, and does not simply clatter every shot as do so many of the modern young women. She also has a younger sister, Urszula, who won junior Wimbledon this year. So watch out. Here comes the Polish version of the Williams.
The American version is still going strong with Serena breezing into the quarter-finals after beating Marion Bartoli 6-3 6-4 yesterday. Speaking after her victory, Williams revealed she felt no ill-effects from her recent thumb problems.
"I don't have any pain when I hit my backhand at all," she said.
Men's Singles - Third round: (1) Roger Federer (Swi) bt John Isner (USA) 6-7 (4-7) 6-2 6-4 6-2, Feliciano Lopez (Spa) bt Donald Young (USA) 3-6 6-3 7-6 (7-5) 7-5, (9) Tomas Berdych (Cze) bt Fernando Verdasco (Spa) 7-6 (7-2) 6-1 7-6 (7-3), (5) Andy Roddick (USA) bt Thomas Johansson (Swe) 6-3 6-2 6-0, (4) Nikolay Davydenko (Rus) bt (28) Nicolas Almagro (Spa) 7-5 6-0 7-5, Hyung Taik Lee (Kor) bt (19) Andrew Murray (Gbr) 6-3 6-3 2-6 7-5, (10) Tommy Haas (Ger) bt Sebastien Grosjean (Fra) 6-2 6-4 3-6 4-6 6-3, (6) James Blake (USA) bt Stefan Koubek (Aut) 6-4 3-6 7-6 (7-5) 6-1, (20) Juan Ignacio Chela (Arg) bt (12) Ivan Ljubicic (Cro) 6-4 6-7 (5-7) 2-6 6-3 6-3, (15) David Ferrer (Spa) bt (24) David Nalbandian (Arg) 6-3 3-6 4-6 7-6 (7-5) 7-5, (2) Rafael Nadal (Spa) bt Jo-Wilfried Tsonga (Fra) 7-6 (7-3) 6-2 6-1.
Women's Singles - third round: Agnes Szavay (Hun) bt (7) Nadia Petrova (Rus) 6-4 6-4, Julia Vakulenko (Ukr) bt Maria Kirilenko (Rus) 6-2 6-4, Victoria Azarenka (Blr) bt (16) Martina Hingis (Swi) 3-6 6-1 6-0, (4) Svetlana Kuznetsova (Rus) bt (31) Anabel Medina Garrigues (Spa) 6-3 6-1, (6) Anna Chakvetadze (Rus) bt (26) Sania Mirza (Ind) 6-2 6-3, Tamira Paszek (Aut) bt (11) Patty Schnyder (Swi) 4-6 6-4 7-6 (7-1), (18) Shahar Peer (Isr) bt (13) Nicole Vaidisova (Cze) 6-4 3-6 7-6 (7-5), (30) Agnieska Radwanska (Pol) bt (2) Maria Sharapova (Rus) 6-4 1-6 6-2
Fourth round: (8) Serena Williams (USA) bt (10) Marion Bartoli (Fra) 6-3 6-4.
