Andy Murray left to ponder after straight-sets defeat to Roger Federer
The man with 17 slam titles next to his name may not be favourite to win the US Open, which starts on Monday week, but he deserves to be feared again, the Guardian reports. On Friday night he came from 1-4 down in the second set to beat an out-of-sorts Murray 6-3, 7-5 in an hour and 33 minutes, a performance littered with too many butchered volleys to be totally convincing, but solid enough to sharpen him up for the semi-final against Milos Raonic. The 23-year-old Canadian - young enough not to blush when earlier admitting to using hair gel to stop sweat rolling into his eyes - was brutal in dismissing the volatile Fabio Fognini for the loss of just one game in under an hour. He will be tough to beat in this form. If Murray had pressed his advantage instead of again blowing a healthy lead, he might have levelled and then out-muscled Federer in the third set; in seven such situations against him, he has won six times. Instead, he has some serious thinking to do about his failure to close games out or at least not let substantial leads slip away. He did it in Toronto last week against Jo-Wilfried Tsonga and this recurring aberration could eat into his confidence given he has not won a tournament since Wimbledon last year. "It was pretty poor tennis from that stage of the match," he said after allowing Federer to recover from two breaks down in the second set, following a first session that was close but ragged. "I don't remember hitting many very good shots after the 4-1 game. On the 4-3 game I hit two shots about 10 metres out, which is not great," Murray said. Without sinking into the despond that some times enveloped him in similar slumps in the past, Murray nevertheless looked seriously disappointed. He has had happier nights here, where he has won the tournament twice, and was tough on himself afterwards. "I started the match off pretty slow. He came out quick. Then I had a couple break points in back-to-back games to get into it in the first set; didn't get either of them. Then I was well up in the second and blew it. It's a shame. "It was good to play against someone of Roger's quality before the US Open, because hopefully you'll be playing against guys like that in the latter stages of the tournament if you play well. It's good to test yourself and see if there are things you need to work on. But there are a lot of things I'll need to improve. "Yesterday [beating John Isner 6-3, 6-3] I hit the ball brilliant. Today I was very, very up and down. It's been like that most of the year. It's fine to have periods like that when you're young and first coming on the tour, but one or two games max, really, when you let your level drop a little bit. Then you need to be able to find it again; I didn't do that." Murray and Federer are now at 11 wins apiece in matches against each other. Their next meeting will be interesting. At Flushing Meadows Murray will be reunited with his new coach, Amélie Mauresmo, who was with him in Toronto last week but skipped Cincinnati as part of their 25-week-a-year agreement. They have plenty to discuss.
