Davydenko halts Murray in New York

New York - Nikolay Davydenko needed just 36 minutes on Wednesday to end Andy Murray's hopes of a US Open quarterfinal berth.

In a fourth round tie held over from Tuesday because of rain, the seventh seeded Russian started the day two sets to one ahead and he easily finished the job off going through 6-1, 5-7, 6-3, 6-0 against the 19-year British hope.

He will play the winner of the tie between Marat Safin of Russia and Tommy Haas of Germany for a place in the semi-finals.

For Murray, there was the satisfaction of having reached the last 16 of a Grand Slam event for the second straight time after Wimbledon, and he will work with new coach Brad Gilbert to be ready for next year.

Murray had been badly out of sorts when the rain came to his rescue on Tuesday, and his hopes of quickly turning things around were shattered when two double faults gave Davydenko the early break he was looking for in the first game after the restart.

A successful line-call challenge turned what would have been 15-40 to Murray into 30-30 in the following game as Davydenko went 2-0 up.

That took the fire out of the Scot and his slim hopes of reaching the quarter-finals of a Grand Slam for the first time at the age of 19 rapidly evaporated in the morning sunshine. - Sapa-AFP