PARIS, (Reuters) – Dinara Safina woke up from a first-set snooze to keep alive her dreams of a maiden grand slam title but Andy Murray paid for his mid-match doze and slid out of the French Open yesterday.
World number one Safina soaked up the full force of Belarussian teenager Victoria Azarenka’s armoury to reach the semi-finals for the second year running with a see-saw 1-6 6-4 6-2 win. She will face Slovak Dominika Cibulkova next. British third seed Murray had seen the draw open up wide for him following the shock defeat of four-times champion Rafael Nadal but he will not be able to capitalise on the Spaniard’s downfall after being outwitted 6-3 3-6 6-0 6-4 by swashbuckling Chilean world number 12 Fernando Gonzalez.
Murray’s demise meant Roger Federer was the only top-four player left in Paris since Serbia’s Novak Djokovic has also been ushered out of Roland Garros.
The Scot’s hopes of ending Britain’s 73-year wait for a men’s grand slam champion ended in a flurry of dashing forehands and delectable lobs that flew off Gonzalez’s racket.
“No one’s hit the ball that big. He was hitting it huge. If that happens, you’ve got to say too good,” said Murray, who before this event had never strung together four wins on clay. Gonzalez will next take on Robin Soderling.
The Swedish giant-killer proved his win over Nadal was no fluke as he ruined 10th seed Nikolay Davydenko’s birthday celebrations with a 6-1 6-3 6-1 walloping.
The 23rd seed is enjoying his moment in the spotlight and has acquired some famous fans along the way.
