Anderson Upsets Murray to Reach First Major Quarterfinal

In the longest match of the 2015 U.S. Open this year, the 15th seeded South African Kevin Anderson upset third-ranked Andy Murray, outlasting the Scot 7-6(5), 6-3, 6-7(2), 7-6(0) in over four hours.

“I’m a little lost for words right now,” Anderson said afterwards. “I just managed to keep my composure throughout.”

Anderson and Murray held serve in each of their opening service games to send the first set into a tie-breaker. With a 6-5 advantage in the breaker, Anderson ripped a monster forehand winner to jump out to the one set to love advantage.

After 27 winners in the opening frame, Anderson had less than half of that in the second set but picked up points when he needed to. He converted on two of three break advantages to build a 5-1 cushion. And even after Murray fought to get one of those breaks back, Anderson served out the set to put Murray on the ropes, taking a 7-6, 6-3 lead.

Both players were broken in their opening service games of the third set, and would exchange breaks later in the set to send it into another tie-breaker. This time, Murray got the best of Anderson and won the breaker to force a fourth set and pumping up the crowd in the process.

Murray committed just four unforced errors in that and it seemed as if he might have another huge comeback in him. But Anderson’s solid serving in the final set didn’t allow Murray to get any advantage. He won 77 percent of his first serves and 80 percent of his second serves, while Murray also held in all of his service games, forcing another tiebreaker.

But Anderson made sure this match wouldn’t go the distance. He won all seven points in the breaker and shut the door on the Murray comeback to reach the first Major quarterfinal of his career, while snapping Murray’s streak of 18 straight Grand Slam quarterfinal appearances.

“It’s a tough match,” said Murray. “That court is a lot quicker than Ashe. I felt like I was on the back foot quite a lot. I wasn’t able to play that offensively. But, you know, when you’re playing against someone that’s playing and has the game style that he does, you’re always going to have to do a fair bit of defending, especially if he serves well.”

Anderson hit a whopping 81 winners compared to just 49 for Murray. He saved five break points and was able to dial up big serves when he needed to, winning 79 percent of his first serve points.

Anderson will next face fifth-seed Stan Wawrinka in the quarterfinals, who ousted American Donald Young in four sets earlier in the day. Anderson has won the last four matches with the French Open champion and will look to make it five when they meet on Wednesday.