Frustrated Murray bows out

An angry Andy Murray tonight crashed out of the French Open as Thomas Berdych blasted him off Suzanne Lenglen Court to reach the quarter-finals.

World number four Murray never got to grips with his opponent’s raw power as he went down in 6-4 7-5 6-3 in two hours and 16 minutes in what was another rain-affected match that did not finish until 9.34pm local time.

And it was the weather which sparked a succession of furious outbursts from Murray, who was unhappy with the condition of the court following a 36-minute delay midway through the match.

Fifteenth seed Berdych posed a very different type of challenge to his opening three opponents.

The pair had not met for four years – when Murray still outside the top 50 - with the Czech winning the last encounter to square their head-to-head 1-1.

Berdych was bidding to reach the quarter-finals at Roland Garros for the first time, while Murray was trying to match last year’s career-best run in Paris.

Another two-day match was a real possibility for the Scot after play got under way at 6.43pm, on perhaps the windiest day of the tournament so far.

Whether that had an effect on Murray’s serve is unclear but he was forced to save four break points in his opening two service games as Berdych produced a mixture of punishing forehands and advances to the net to set the tone for the match.

The Czech, who unlike his opponent had not dropped a set en route to the last 16, raced to a 40-0 lead in his first service game.

But Murray gave notice of his tactics with clever lobs that got him back to deuce before Berdych held.

Murray was having mixed success with his drop shot, two poor ones helping Berdych to the first break in game six.

The Scot then needed all his defensive resolve to save two set points in game eight after Berdych produced some stunning returns. But serving out the set proved little more than a formality for the 24-year-old.

Murray had broken serve a remarkable 22 times in his opening three matches - the most in the tournament along with Fernando Verdasco – but he came nowhere near troubling Berdych in the opening set.

It got worse for the Scot at the start of the second when he lost six straight points from 40-0 up to surrender his own serve again.

Light drizzle had begun to fall but not enough to halt play, with Murray having to produce his best simply to avoid a double-break.

A Berdych error finally handed him a break point of his own, the Czech dropping serve all too easily with a misplaced backhand.

Both men then held comfortably as Murray took a 4-3 lead before rain began to fall too heavily for play to continue.

Umpire Cedric Mourier initially wanted the players to remain sat in their chairs but Murray wanted the covers brought on, telling him: “The court’s wet enough as it is. Look at the court rather than the weather.”

Mourier eventually agreed and the players departed at 8.03pm. The rain subsided enough for play to resume at 8.39pm, with the likelihood of a second day looming.

Murray had started slowly after the breaks in his second-round win over Juan Ignacio Chela and, on a court still damp in places, one spectator tried to spur him on with a cry of, “Come on Andy, this is like summer in Scotland!”.

But Murray was not pleased to be back out there, screaming, “How are we meant to play when we can’t stand on the court”, as well as an expletive, as a seemingly-unflustered Berdych broke him for 6-5 with a flurry of winners.

The Czech continued the blitz to serve out the set, meaning Murray needed to repeat his thrilling first-round comeback against Richard Gasquet to stay alive.

The Scot’s outbursts continued in the third set, the fourth seed complaining to the umpire during a change of ends about the resumption.

Despite his frustrations, Murray was serving well in what was fading light and was 30-0 up in game seven before a double fault and a errant backhand gifted Berdych four successive points and the first break.

And the Czech raced to triple match point in Murray’s next service game, prompting an outburst from his opponent laced with sarcasm – “It’s so easy to see the ball” – before sealing victory at the second attempt.