MASON, Ohio -- For the first time in two years, Roger Federer will not be advancing to a tournament final. Improbably, the player who ended his streak was Andy Murray.
The 19-year-old Brit took advantage of Federer's serving woes to stun the world's best player, 7-5, 6-4, on Wednesday in the second round of the ATP Western Southern Financial Group Masters.
<!-- INLINE TABLE (BEGIN) --><TABLE id=inlinetable cellSpacing=1 cellPadding=3 width=198 align=right border=0><TBODY><TR><TH style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: #000000" colSpan=3><CENTER>Consecutive finals reached
in the Open Era</CENTER></TH><TR style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: #ececec" vAlign=top><TD style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: #999999" width=58>Name</TD><TD style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: #999999" width=58>Finals</TD><TD style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: #999999" width=58>Years</TD></TR><TR style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: #ffffff" vAlign=top><TD width=88>Ivan Lendl </TD><TD width=18>18 </TD><TD width=68>'81-82 </TD></TR><TR style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: #ececec" vAlign=top><TD width=88>Roger Federer </TD><TD width=18>17 </TD><TD width=68>'05-06 </TD></TR><TR style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: #ffffff" vAlign=top><TD width=88>Guillermo Vilas </TD><TD width=18>13 </TD><TD width=68>'77 </TD></TR><TR style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: #ececec" vAlign=top><TD width=88>John McEnroe </TD><TD width=18>12 </TD><TD width=68>'84 </TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE><!-- INLINE TABLE (END) -->
Since losing in the first round here to Dominik Hrbaty in 2004, Federer had advanced to 17 straight finals -- one shy of Ivan Lendl's ATP Tour record, set from 1981-82. The top seed and defending champion in Cincinnati, Federer had been 62-0 against everybody but Rafael Nadal this year and had won 55 straight matches in North America since the loss to Hrbaty.
The winner earlier this year at San Jose, Murray had reached the Washington final and Toronto semifinals in his first two tournaments under coach Brad Gilbert, but this was by far the biggest win of his young career.
The native of Scotland broke Federer four times in the first set, earning the decisive break in the 11th game.
Twice Murray was up a break in the second set only to see Federer counter, including in the eighth game to level the set at 4-4. But Murray broke again in the ninth game and held easily, completing the stunner with a backhand down the line.
Murray will face either 15th-seeded American Robby Ginepri or Russian Dmitry Tursunov in the third round Thursday.
Also in Federer's quarter of the draw, No. 9 Andy Roddick of the U.S. plays Belgian Kristof Vliegen and American Vincent Spadea opposes Juan Ignacio Chela of Argentina. Roddick outlasted Italian Daniele Bracciali in three tiebreaks on Tuesday.
Robert Laberge/Getty Images
Since winning the RCA Championships, Blake has failed to win back-to-back matches in his last three events.
In the first match at Centre Court, the second-seeded Nadal defeated Korean Hyung-Taik Lee, 6-4, 6-3. The Spanish lefthander had to rally for a 6-7 (5), 6-2, 6-3 win over American wild card Sam Querrey on Tuesday.
Nadal will meet 14th-seeded German Tommy Haas, a 6-3, 4-6, 6-4 winner over Frenchman Gilles Simon, in the third round.
Elsewhere in Nadal's quarter, 2003 French Open champion Juan Carlos Ferrero of Spain upset No. 6 James Blake of the U.S., 6-2, 6-4.
Blake has not won more than two matches in any of his past three tournaments since winning at Indianapolis last month.
Ferrero next will face Swede Robin Soderling.
Also in the bottom half of the draw, No. 4 Ivan Ljubicic of Croatia beat Russian Mikhail Youzhny, 6-4, 7-6 (7).
In the top half, No. 3 David Nalbandian of Argentina plays Swiss wild card Stanislas Wawrinka, with the winner to face either No. 13 Fernando Gonzalez of Chile or American Mardy Fish.
Eighth seed Marcos Baghdatis of Cyprus ousted Frenchman Gael Monfils, 7-6 (8), 2-6, 6-1, to set up a meeting with a Spaniard, either No. 10 David Ferrer or Nicolas Almagro.
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The 19-year-old Brit took advantage of Federer's serving woes to stun the world's best player, 7-5, 6-4, on Wednesday in the second round of the ATP Western Southern Financial Group Masters.
<!-- INLINE TABLE (BEGIN) --><TABLE id=inlinetable cellSpacing=1 cellPadding=3 width=198 align=right border=0><TBODY><TR><TH style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: #000000" colSpan=3><CENTER>Consecutive finals reached
in the Open Era</CENTER></TH><TR style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: #ececec" vAlign=top><TD style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: #999999" width=58>Name</TD><TD style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: #999999" width=58>Finals</TD><TD style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: #999999" width=58>Years</TD></TR><TR style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: #ffffff" vAlign=top><TD width=88>Ivan Lendl </TD><TD width=18>18 </TD><TD width=68>'81-82 </TD></TR><TR style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: #ececec" vAlign=top><TD width=88>Roger Federer </TD><TD width=18>17 </TD><TD width=68>'05-06 </TD></TR><TR style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: #ffffff" vAlign=top><TD width=88>Guillermo Vilas </TD><TD width=18>13 </TD><TD width=68>'77 </TD></TR><TR style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: #ececec" vAlign=top><TD width=88>John McEnroe </TD><TD width=18>12 </TD><TD width=68>'84 </TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE><!-- INLINE TABLE (END) -->
Since losing in the first round here to Dominik Hrbaty in 2004, Federer had advanced to 17 straight finals -- one shy of Ivan Lendl's ATP Tour record, set from 1981-82. The top seed and defending champion in Cincinnati, Federer had been 62-0 against everybody but Rafael Nadal this year and had won 55 straight matches in North America since the loss to Hrbaty.
The winner earlier this year at San Jose, Murray had reached the Washington final and Toronto semifinals in his first two tournaments under coach Brad Gilbert, but this was by far the biggest win of his young career.
The native of Scotland broke Federer four times in the first set, earning the decisive break in the 11th game.
Twice Murray was up a break in the second set only to see Federer counter, including in the eighth game to level the set at 4-4. But Murray broke again in the ninth game and held easily, completing the stunner with a backhand down the line.
Murray will face either 15th-seeded American Robby Ginepri or Russian Dmitry Tursunov in the third round Thursday.
Also in Federer's quarter of the draw, No. 9 Andy Roddick of the U.S. plays Belgian Kristof Vliegen and American Vincent Spadea opposes Juan Ignacio Chela of Argentina. Roddick outlasted Italian Daniele Bracciali in three tiebreaks on Tuesday.
Robert Laberge/Getty Images
Since winning the RCA Championships, Blake has failed to win back-to-back matches in his last three events.
In the first match at Centre Court, the second-seeded Nadal defeated Korean Hyung-Taik Lee, 6-4, 6-3. The Spanish lefthander had to rally for a 6-7 (5), 6-2, 6-3 win over American wild card Sam Querrey on Tuesday.
Nadal will meet 14th-seeded German Tommy Haas, a 6-3, 4-6, 6-4 winner over Frenchman Gilles Simon, in the third round.
Elsewhere in Nadal's quarter, 2003 French Open champion Juan Carlos Ferrero of Spain upset No. 6 James Blake of the U.S., 6-2, 6-4.
Blake has not won more than two matches in any of his past three tournaments since winning at Indianapolis last month.
Ferrero next will face Swede Robin Soderling.
Also in the bottom half of the draw, No. 4 Ivan Ljubicic of Croatia beat Russian Mikhail Youzhny, 6-4, 7-6 (7).
In the top half, No. 3 David Nalbandian of Argentina plays Swiss wild card Stanislas Wawrinka, with the winner to face either No. 13 Fernando Gonzalez of Chile or American Mardy Fish.
Eighth seed Marcos Baghdatis of Cyprus ousted Frenchman Gael Monfils, 7-6 (8), 2-6, 6-1, to set up a meeting with a Spaniard, either No. 10 David Ferrer or Nicolas Almagro.
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