• US Open, Day Five

Plays of the Day: Rocket Man

Donald Young took advantage of a Jekyll and Hyde display from Stanislas Wawrinka to progress © Getty Images

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An indecent proposal
A report in the press on Friday claimed Novak Djokovic had asked Andy Murray to be the best man at his wedding. It's news to some people that Djokovic is getting married. And it was certainly news to Murray, who said: "Really? He certainly has not asked me yet and I've no idea if he is getting married. I'm just assuming it is one of those made-up things that the press jump on. I'll have to ask him."

Rocket Man
One of Elton John's finest ditties and even if Watford's No. 1 fan had belted it out note perfect, it would not have topped the opening salvo from Robin Haase. Andy Murray envisaged his Dutch opponent coming out and swinging from the hip, but not even he could have predicted Haase climbing into an opening forehand and slashing it back at 105mph. Some players don't serve as fast as that.

A pointless argument
Vera Zvonareva was getting the worst of an exchange with Anabel Medina Garrigues, with her opponent sending her scampering round a court. Zvonareva stretched for a ball but it was heading long and after a delay she elected to challenge. The umpire viewed her challenge was too late and the pair enjoyed a healthy debate. It was an argument Zvonareva was not going to win, but even if she had it would have been pointless as Medina Garrigues' effort landed flush on the line and would have been classed a winner either way.

Jekyll and Hyde
Stanislas Wawrinka is one of the most gifted players on tour, he has a backhand that is as good as any in the game, can hit the ball with real pace, moves well and is excellent at the net. You do wonder why he's not made the big break in the game, but he's always entertaining to watch and the good and the bad of the Swiss were on show in the opening-set tiebreak against Donald Young. At 6-6 in the tiebreak, Wawrinka advanced to the net and offered a target for Young to pass. The American looked like he had executed his pass to perfection, but Wawrinka stooped low to his backhand side to pick up a volley at his ankles and drop it a foot over the net. It gave him set point, but two unforced errors later handed the initiative to Young who barged through the door with a brilliant forehand winner.

The game of the championship
It doesn't always have to be brilliant tennis to make for an epic match, as Andy Murray and Robin Haase proved. At times Murray was awful. For two-and-a-bit sets Haase disappeared, but between them they served up a stunner and the final few games of the match were worth the admission price alone. Haase was 4-0 down and had gone over an hour without winning a game. He reeled off four in 14 minutes, but lost the next and then forced Murray to fight for the win.

Murray, though, is never one to make his passage a simple one. He served a double fault, passed up his first match point and gave Haase a look at a second serve on break point but he pulled out an amazing serve and volley to set up a second match point. The match was Murray's when a Haase forehand was called wide, but the drama continued as Hawkeye overturned the call. But at the third time of asking victory was secured when a Haase backhand went long and this time there was no Hawkeye reprieve.

Going the distance
Cynics have often criticised the women's game because of some of the one-sided results in the early rounds of grand slams. Perhaps the match between Sam Stosur and Nadia Petrova will change their mind. The pair traded spectacular winners in a gripping three-set duel which eclipsed the record for the longest women's match in US Open history since the introduction of the tiebreak. Stosur clinched the victory on her fifth match point - some 80 minutes after her initial opportunity to do so - in a superb three-and-a-bit hour advert for the sport.

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