Andy Murray bested Milos Raonic, 6-4, 6-4, 6-2. The win marked the eighth straight time Murray advanced to a Grand Slam quarterfinal.
The best, most emotional summer Andy Murray ever had continued Monday night at the United States Open against an opponent nicknamed the Maple Leaf Missile, a player named Milos Raonic whose serves are difficult to see, let alone return.
Murray, who lost in the Wimbledon final and won an Olympic singles gold medal earlier this summer, bested Raonic, 6-4, 6-4, 6-2. It marked the eighth straight time he advanced to a Grand Slam quarterfinal. The victory, equal parts efficient and impressive, solidified Murray’s standing as a favorite in this tournament.
“I used a lot of variation tonight,” Murray said. “I got lucky a couple of times, and I hit my passing shots very well.”
Early in the match, the wind and light drizzle presented as much of a problem for Murray as Raonic. The match, originally scheduled as the final contest of the night session, went first instead.
Before it started, the stands filled slowly. Fans carried in umbrellas. Tournament officials huddled in one corner. Ball boys huddled in another. Everyone waited, fingers crossed.
Raonic stood one victory from history, from becoming the first Canadian man to advance to the quarterfinals of a Grand Slam tournament in the Open era. He arrived there behind his serve, a shot that ranked among the most feared in tennis.
Through three rounds, Raonic blasted 89 aces, the most in the tournament. One clocked in at 143 miles an hour. Against Murray, Raonic smacked one serve with such force that it hit a ball boy before he had a chance to catch it.
Last week, Murray said if he could steal one shot from any player, he would take one of the big serves, from someone like John Isner, or Raonic. What Murray lacked in serve speed he made up for in experience, shot selection and skill.
Murray befuddled Raonic with variety, with backhand passing shots down the line and lobs sailed overhead and short shots dropped in front. Murray made Raonic run, which made Raonic rely too heavily on his serve, which meant Raonic could, at best, keep pace.
In the second set, Murray tracked one overhead behind the baseline, ran around it and whipped a forehand down the line, past a charging Raonic. In the third, with Raonic on his way in again, Murray took a ball off a short hop and slung it down the line, where it cleared the net by less than an inch on the way to another winner.
Thus continued the Summer of Murray, the stretch, perhaps, where he went from a step behind the top contenders to somewhere inside their mix. He is still trying to make sense of it all, of the loss at Wimbledon and the two Olympic medals he hung around the necks of his two border terriers.
Murray left England almost immediately after his Olympic triumph. He spent a few days in Toronto, and on one night, when he finally found himself alone, he sat in his room and cried.
“When you’re on your own for a while, you have a chance to think about what’s happened,” Murray said. “It was just the Olympics, but what happened a few weeks beforehand as well. It was quite emotional.”
What Murray wants at this United States Open, where he reached the semifinals last year and lost in the 2008 final, is for his magical summer to carry end with a title. Rafael Nadal is not playing in this tournament. Novak Djokovic looks vulnerable. Murray, who beat Roger Federer at the Olympics, seems to have as good a chance as anybody.
It certainly seemed that way on Monday night.
TRICK SHOT IGNITES COMEBACK A between-the-legs trick shot may have kept alive the Bryan brothers’ chances of winning their fifth United States Open title. Down a set, Bob and Mike Bryan were two points from losing their third-round match when Bob Bryan executed the shot and followed with a winner.
The Bryans won the tiebreaker and sealed a much easier final set to defeat Scott Lipsky and Santiago Gonzalez, 6-7 (8), 7-6 (5), 6-3, to advance to the quarterfinals.
Together, the Bryans have won 11 Grand Slam titles and an Olympic gold medal. But neither had pulled off a shot like that in a moment with so much pressure.
“There were 20 different options,” Mike Bryan said. “He picked the 21st.”
With the second-set tiebreaker tied at 5-5, Bob Bryan was facing the net when a shot came directly toward his midsection. He stuck the racket behind him and between his legs to knock it back, then followed with an acutely angled forehand winner. Mike Bryan hit a topspin lob winner on the next point to close the set.
“If I was a coach, I’d tell my student never to do that,” Bob Bryan said. “Or never do it again. It’s something you don’t want to try at home.”
The Bryans will play Julien Benneteau and Nicolas Mahut in the quarterfinals. HUNTER ATKINS
