US Open Betting / Simon Mundie / 09 September 2009 /

World number two's chances of ever winning a Grand Slam in doubt after being outclassed in the last-16 at Flushing Meadows...

Last night saw a crushing defeat for Andy Murray against Marin Cilic in the US Open, thus making it four consecutive Grand Slam tournaments on the trot where he has lost in extremely disappointing fashion.

Murray traded at a low of 1.06 on Betfair with holding two set points in the first set and Cilic drifted to 15.5 before the Croatian came back to take the first 7-5. He then trounced the Brit 6-2 6-2 for a straight sets victory which was matched at [95.0].

At all four Grand Slams this year, Murray has been guilty of passive play, and failing to rise to players who were willing to take chances, and dictate the tempo of the match.

Murray was unbeaten in three previous encounters with Cilic, but on this occasion he was seriously outclassed, which is a real concern for his future Grand Slam winning chances. It seems that when the Scot runs into a player with the ability to create more power off the ground over five sets, he can do little to stem the tide. As Larry Stefanki pointed out after his semi-final loss to Andy Roddick at Wimbledon, Murray has been stuck playing "defensive tennis" - an approach which looks increasingly unlikely to win him that coveted major.

So what next for Murray? He must adopt a more attacking approach rather than relying on defeating players by allowing them to beat themselves. Players like Cilic, and Juan Martin Del Potro - who I was convinced would have beaten Murray in the quarter-finals - will keep on improving, so Murray must do too. Perhaps some fresh blood in his training camp; someone who can see Murray's deficiencies, like Larry Stefanki, could be a good place to start.

He must do something, as with every Grand Slam title that goes begging, the chances of him winning a major title diminishes that little bit more.

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