RELATED: Read Andy Murray's press conference
Surprise winner Hyung-Taik Lee of Korea is making an impressive run at this year’s US Open, taking out his second straight top-20 seed in No. 19 Andy Murray during Saturday’s third round.
Playing with the Grandstand crowd fully behind him, Lee narrowly escaped having to play a fifth set and put the match away early. The 31-year-old Korean squandered two match points, one at 5-2 and the other at 5-3, as Murray fought his way back into the set to tie it at 5-5. But Lee dug deep to break Murray on double match point and advance with a 6-3, 6-3, 2-6, 7-5, victory.
Lee, ranked No. 43 in the world, has so far eliminated Dominik Hrbaty and No. 14 Guillermo Canas to reach the Round of 16, where he will meet a more rigorous challenge in No. 4 seed Nikolay Davydenko.
Midway through the first set, Lee’s consistency started to pay off as Murray struggled with unforced errors. A break on Murray’s serve put the Korean up 5-3 and allowed him to secure the set in the following game.
Lee’s momentum, as well as the crowd’s support, continued through the second set, and he broke his opponent early for a 3-2 lead. By keeping Murray on the run and in defensive positions, Lee broke again to take the second set.
By the start of the third, Lee’s game began to deflate, and it seemed Murray had finally found his rhythm, though he had to work hard to hold for 2-0 after five deuce points. A significant shift occurred when Murray broke again for a 4-1 lead. The young Scot began striking more winners and clearly began feeling the game better.
However, his momentum was short-lived, and the match shifted again in Lee’s favor at 3-2 in the fourth. Lee had his first opportunity to put away the match on Murray’s serve at 5-2, but a couple of costly errors and a volley winner from Murray kept the Scot in the match. Lee’s second chance to close out the win rested on his racket in the next game, but Murray fought back from 0-30 down to break after two deuce points.
Luckily for the Korean, the third match point was the charm, and it came on the young Scot’s serve at 5-6. At 15-40, Murray charged the net for a serve and volley play, hitting a crosscourt forehand to pull Lee wide, but Lee fired a winner down the line to seal the win and send the crowd in an uproar.
Murray, who is coming off a recent 12-week absence due to a wrist injury, admitted he started out tight from the very beginning.
“I just maybe didn't play as consistently as I would have liked,” Murray said. “But, he played well. Normally in those matches I'm the one making the big shots or the shots on the run, but he was the one coming up with them. My game is still nowhere near where I would like it. I was making a lot of mistakes that I don't normally make and my return today was not the best. Physically, I was in good shape and that's one of the positives I have to take from that.”