By Chris Oddo | Saturday January 21, 2017
Mischa Zverev stunned top-seeded Andy Murray on Day 7, continuing the upset theme in Melbourne.
Photo Source: Clive Brunskill/Getty
If Denis Istomin’s shock victory over Novak Djokovic in the second round of this year’s Australian is one of the biggest upsets in Australian Open history, then where do we rank Mischa Zverev’s 7-5, 5-7, 6-2, 6-4 takedown of Andy Murray on Day 7?
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That is the challenge that tennis historians are facing after the German subdued Murray with a throwback serve-and-volley attack to book his spot in the quarterfinals on Sunday in Melbourne.
As for Murray, he was left to contemplate exactly what went wrong in his first Grand Slam appearance as the World’s No.1-ranked player.
“I prepared as best as I could,” he told reporters after the match. “But maybe have to have a look back and assess some things and see maybe if there's some stuff I could have done differently, or did my opponent just play a great match? Sometimes that can happen, as well.”
Zverev, a 29-year-old who came in with a ranking of 50 in the world, certainly did produce some magic. And when it appeared that his nerves might get the best of him late in the fourth set, he doubled down and made some improbably good shots to keep Murray at bay.
"He's very strong physically," an elated Zverev said in press. "He has a good baseline game. I knew I had to come in. That was my only chance to win. So, yeah, honestly there was no Plan B for me, so that's all I could do."
Zverev reaches the quarterfinals for the first time at a major; he had only been past the second round at a major once in his previous 17 appearances. But the older brother of rising Alexander Zverev has impressed many of late, both with his style of play and his results.
He was called the best volleyer on the ATP Tour by ESPN’s Brad Gilbert a few days ago (ESPN's John McEnroe called Zverev "My new favorite player" after the match), but most thought that he’d have no chance against Murray, an adept returner who relishes a target more than anyone in tennis. In Murray’s bag of tricks are demonic lobs, dipping crosscourt passes and running topspin drives—all of which were employed—but Zverev’s aggressive attack was still good enough to keep him on equal footing with the cagey Murray.
And when the big points came, Zverev stepped up and gained the edge.
“I put Mischa under pressure, he came up with great stuff,” Murray said. “That's unfortunate for me and great for him. He deserves to be in the next round.”
Murray’s loss means that for the first time since the 2004 French Open, both the No.1 and No.2 seeds have failed to reach the quarterfinal at a major. With Djokovic gone, Murray looked to be on the inside track to his first Australian Open title. A five-time runner-up in Australia, Murray has reached the title match at Melbourne in five of the last seven years.
It was expected that Zverev would cause some chaos for Murray's return game, but nobody could have predicted that Murray would struggle so much to hold serve in this tilt. The Scotsman was broken eight times and faced 17 break points against Zverev, who frequently returned and charged the net rather than stay back and let Murray dictate from his office at the baseline.
“I thought I returned reasonably well,” Murray said. “I definitely could have served better the last couple of sets.”
In total Zverev made 118 forays to the net, winning 65 of them.
“I don't think it's so much someone necessarily coming in,” Murray said. “It's the shots he was coming up with when he did come forward. I mean, he came up with some great pickups, you know, reflex volleys especially at the end of the match when it was tight. That was tough because I was hitting some good shots, chasing some good balls down.”
Zverev moves on to face either Roger Federer or Kei Nishikori in the quarterfinals. He’ll be a heavy underdog no matter who he faces, but now that he has a win over a reigning World No.1 under his belt the mountain will surely seem more scalable to him.