Andy Murray had no excuses after crashing out of the 2009 Australian Open in the 4th round to 15th in the world rankings Fernando Verdasco.

Murray saw his hopes of winning his first Grand Slam end in five sets after twice being a set up 2-6 6-1 1-6 6-3 6-4.

Murray’s preparation for the match had been hampered through illness after his victory over Jurgen Melzer in the third round. Though Murray refused to make any excuses, after his defeat he said,

I gave myself the best chance to win, I don’t think it came down to a physical thing why I lost. If I say that I’m sick and it affected me, I know it’s going to be like, ‘well he’s making excuses for losing’.

If you’re sick, there’s some things you can’t do as well as you might like but you just have to deal with it, I don’t feel that was the reason why I lost.

I definitely did have my chances but he played too well. He served huge. He started serving like, 215 kph-plus (134 mph) on a lot of his first serves. I didn’t play my best but sometimes you’ve just got to say too good, and he played better than me.

The first 4 sets could not have been more contrasting with both players wining each of their successful sets comfortably. The second set was probably the “worst set of tennis” Murray has ever played.

The match was ultimately decided in the fifth set and crucially the sixth game of the set. Murray earned the first break point at 15-40 of the obviously tense final set but Verdasco responded brilliantly with successive aces, which was the final blow for Murray as Verdasco punished the Scot by getting the crucial break in the very next game and he held his nerve impressively to serve out for victory in 3 hours and 12 minutes.

The crazy world of British expectation and joy of building up our sport stars only to knock the them down was rampant. The past week I’ve heard more about tennis on regular media (outside Wimbledon fortnight) than ever before and after his defeat even more coverage as “experts” can’t wait to get their face or voice on tv or radio and criticise Murray.

Murray;s first Grand Slam will have to wait for now. Could he surprise everyone at the French Open, though quarter finals at Rolland Garros would be a major result for Murray. Will Murray’s first grand slam be the dream scenario, a victory on the hallowed lawns of the All England Club? Murray will win a slam this year, i’m 98% sure of that, but I think it will most likely happen at Flushing Meadow, the site of his greatest accomplishments in tennis so far.

We are now down to the last 32 of the 2009 Australian Open, the third round is the first round where seeds will meet other seeds for the first time and the matches start to look interesting.

As yet we have yet to lose any of the top 8 seeds and there have been very few exits of note. The biggest upset so far has been David Nalbandian, the 10th seed was knocked by Yen-Hsun Lu from Taipei, the very same player who knocked Andy Murray out of the 2008 Olympics.

25th seed Ivo Karlovic went out yesterday to former top 20 Mario Ancic. On Wednesday Fabrice Santoro eliminated 32nd seed Philipp Kohlschreiber and Marcos Baghdatis knocked out 16th seed Robin Soderling. Perhaps the best performance so far is from Amer Delic of the USA, the “lucky Loser” qualifier eliminated 28th seed Paul-Henri Mathieu.

The pick of the third round matches is surely Marat Safin vs Roger Federer, a rematch of the 2005 semi final, that Safin won and went on to claim is first grand slam title, in fact his only grand slam win. Since that win the Russian has not won a tournament, a four year drought that he would surely love to end. 

It was a walk in the park for Andy Murray today as he made short work of his second-round opponenet Marcel Granollers in the 2009 Australian Open. He beat his 22 year old Spaniard opponent and former hitting partner when Murray trained in Spain as a boy in straight sets 6-4 6-2 6-2

The fourth seed, Murray did not produce great tennis, he didn’t need to and to use the over used phrase if he wanted to, he could have moved up a gear at any point.

The Scot will now face Austrian Jurgen Melzer, seeded 31, in the third round on Saturday.

After the match Andy Murray told reporters,

I felt like once I got ahead I could settle down, To come through in straight sets is obviously important. It was a good test to have at this stage in the tournament.

The draw for the second round of the 2009 Australian Open is as follows.

Andy Murray didnt have to work too hard to book his place in the 2009 Austrailian open second round. His Romanian opponent Andrei Pavel was forced to retired with the recurrence of a long term back problem.

With less than an hour on the clock Pavel came to the net to shake Murray’s hand with score 6-2 3-1 in Murray’s favour. The Romanian looked in quite a bit of pain and needed assistance to carry his bag has he exited the arena, perhaps the last time we see Pavel in an ATP event.

For Murray though this was a very comfortable work out, it took a few games for Murray to shake off first match cob webs as Pavel was able to keep the score tied untill 2-2 in the first – Murray moved his game in to second gear and rattled of the next 4 games to take the first set comfortably. Pavel then called for the trainer and his condition deteriated from then on and it was no surprise to most when the 34 year old had to throw in the towel.

This first round match for Murray was in stark contrast to that of last year when he was out powered in the first round by eventual finalist Jo-Wilfred Tsonga, a potential quarter finalist opponent for Murray this year.

Murray will next face either Russia’s Teimuraz Gabashvili or Spain’s Marcel Granollers who play later today.

After the match Murray said

I would have liked to go out and play a few more games but I’ll go out and practice today. It would have been nice to get the feeling of the court a little bit more. I’ve prepared as well as I could have and I’ll just have to trust that. When you’re playing matches you’re occupied and so you don’t think about the pressure so it’s good to get the matches under way.

Andy Murray will begin his 2009 grand slam season this morning against world number 1,140 Andrei Pavel in his first round match of the 2009 Australian Open.

The match will be first up on the Rod Laver Arena court and will begin around midnight GMT – You will be able to watch live on BBC 2 or Eurosport.

The pair have met once before, with Murray winning in five dramatic sets 6-3 3-6 3-6 6-1 6-4 in the second round of the US open in 2005. Murray at the time was only 18 and still coached by now Sky Sports commentator mark Petchy and in that particular match an error by Petchy with Murray’s energy drink cause the young Scot to vomit on court.

Murray is now 21, world number 4 and the pre tournament favorite. He is playing a 34 year old, who has not played in nearly a year, there are not many matches when one person is such an overwhelming favorite to win, but the curse of British expectations could hit and we could all be writing the unthinkable tomorrow. Not this time though, Murray will surely prevail.

The 2009 Australian Open kicks off in a few hours with Roger Federer installed as the pre-tournament favorite. Despite the numerous reports in the build up to the 2009 event putting Andy Murray as the favorite, Federer’s victory this week at the Kooyong Classic pushed the former world number 1 back into the favorite to lift this years title.

Federer thrashed his Swiss compatriot Stanislas Wawrinka 6-1 6-3 to win the eight-strong invitational event, the Kooyong Classic in Melbourne. Federer is looking for the record equaling 14th grand slam title. Federer is currently averaging 5/2 ( 13/5 with Betfair) with the bookmakers.

Andy Murray is rightly seen as Federer’s number 1 challenger, having been nearly unbeatable over the last 5 months including 3 titles, ATP Masters Series Madrid, St. Petersburg and last week in Doha. He has also beaten Federer 3 times since their US Open final in August. Murray is currently averaging 13/5 ( 3/1 with Betfair) with the bookmakers.

Murray’s form and Nadal injury as seen the world number 1 Spaniard in the unfamiliar position as third favorite, average odds of 19/5 (22/5 on Betfair) and defending champ Novak Djokovic down in fourth, averaging odds of 67/10 (Betfair 8/1). Djokovic has failed in the last 6 months to show the form that seen him win the title last year and challenge Federer and Nadal for the world number 1 spot.

Anyone looking for outside shots, should consider Americans James Blake and Andy Roddick. Roddick has been showing signs of stirring back into life and James Blake one day will follow through on the potential he has, this may the year for him. Andy Roddick is averaged at 58/1 (94/1 on Betfair) and James Blake’s average is 157/1 (289/1 on Betfair).