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Shock loss at the Australian Open as Sir Andy Murray bows out to world No.50

Michael Chammas
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Andy Murray has thrown it away. His greatest chance to end his Australian Open hoodoo is over after yet another incredible boilover at the Australian Open - this time at the hand's of world No.50 Mischa Zverev.

For the first time at the Australian Open in 15 years, the men's top two seeds have both been bundled out before the quarter-finals of the opening slam of the year.

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Andy Murray's Open ended by Zverev

The World Number one was shocked, falling to Mischa Zverev in 4 sets as the German outwitted him at every turn while Stan Wawrinka succeeded in 3 tiebreakers to defeat Italian Andreas Seppi and Venus Williams defeated Mona Barthel to progress to the quarter-finals.

With his nemesis and the architect of four of his five Australian Open final defeats, Novak Djokovic, out of the way - Murray was the overwhelming favourite to be the last man standing on the final Sunday of the tournament.

"Did I miss an opportunity ? I don't know," Murray said afterwards. "I guess every year you come it's a different opportunity, but even had I got through this match, Nishikori or Roger were waiting.

"Stan (Wawrinka) is still in and there are guys like Jo-Wilfried Tsonga ... you have Roger plus three guys in the top 10 in the world in my half. I was certainly no guarantees, even if I got through this match, that I would have gone further. I don't feel this was more of an opportnuity than other years."

Until Sunday, Zverev had never progressed past the third round of a slam in a decade.

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But the 29-year-old German was simply sublime in front of a packed house at Rod Laver Arena, ending Murray's run with an incredible four-set romp over the world's best player (7-5, 5-7, 6-2, 6-4).

"Honestly, I don't know how. I was in a little coma just serve and volleying my way through it," Zverev said.

"There were a few points I didn't know how I pulled it off. I don't know how I won some points. I don't know. I got excited but the crowd is here so how can you not stay focused? It was easy to stay aggressive but tough to stay calm and focus on your game. I was surprised I got so many first serves in. I expected more double faults.

"It means the world to me  and it means the world to me my whole family is here and my whole box is full."

The older brother of teenage sensation Alexander Zverev, who only 24 hours earlier took Rafael Nadal to five sets and lost, had never been past the second round at Melbourne Park.

"My brother inspires me all the time because he plays such great tennis and challenged me to do better myself," he said of his 19-year-old sibling. He definitely inspired me. He's still ranked higher."

Now Zverev finds himself in the final eight after three hours and 54 minutes he will never forget.

As for Sir Andy - he will leave the tournament wondering "what if" after squandering  - whatever his own assessment - a golden opportunity to claim his maiden Australian Open crown.

"I'm obviously down about it but it's just tennis," he said. "I had great success for a number of months and sure, at the big events you want to do your best but it happens. I've had tough losses in my caraeer in the past and come back from them.

"This is a tough one and I'm sure I'll come back okay from it. Right now I'm very down because I wanted to go further in this event but it wasn't to be."

Victory for the Scot would have set up a dream fourth-round showdown against the winner of the Roger Federer-Kei Nishikori match on Sunday night.

The last time the men's top two seeds fell as early as the fourth round at the Australian Open was in 2002, including Lleyton Hewitt.

The last time it happened at any grand slam was at the French Open in 2004.

Zverev's previous best victory of his career came against Stan Wawrinka (No.3 at the time) in the quarter-finals in Basel, but his shock win against Murray takes his tally of top 10 wins to six from 18 attempts.

It has been a tough few years for the injury-plagued Zverev who, after the 2012 French Open, didn't qualify for a grand slam until last year's US Open.

"I don't know how I feel. Everything is new to me and everything feels unreal," he said.

"Playing Roger will be a dream come true for me. Playing Roger ... growing up I was inspired by him, he was my favourite player. So it will be unbelievable."

It appeared he may have invited Murray back into the match with a simple overhead smash missing its target late in the fourth set, but he managed to see the funny side to what could have been a critical moment.

"I immediately looked at my mum because she always smiles when I miss those balls and she did smile again."

A win for Murray would have seen the world No.1 leapfrog Andre Agassi, Ivan Lendl and Nadal into sole fourth position for most wins at the Australian Open (48) behind Stefan Edberg (56), Djokovic (58) and Federer (83)

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