The French Open quarter-finals were as good as it got for Briton Andy Murray as the number three seed was ousted by Chilean Fernando Gonzalez 6-3 3-6 6-0 6-4.
While an improvement on last year’s third round Roland Garros exit will be encouraging for the 22-year-old, who has previously struggled on clay, Murray will view a final four absent of top seed Rafael Nadal as a missed opportunity for his first grand slam title.
If Nadal’s domination on the red stuff had not been ended by Sweden’s Robin Soderling, Murray might have been forgiven for giving himself a pat on the back.
Prior to Paris, the Scotsman had reached the semi-finals of the Monte-Carlo Masters and the Madrid Masters quarter-finals this season, having never previously been beyond the third round on clay.
So, while the red stuff no longer seems to be the menace it once was to Murray, a clay tournament void of ‘King Rafa’ is perhaps a present he might well have felt he should have taken.
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