• Cincinnati Masters

Fish sinks exhausted Murray in Cincinnati

Andy Murray struggled in the heat © Getty Images

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Mardy Fish once again proved that he has the measure of Andy Murray as he sent the Scot crashing out of the Cincinnati Masters at the quarter-final stage.

Murray edged a fiercely-contested first set 7-6, before his performance level collapsed as he struggled to cope with both the exhausting mid-afternoon heat and a knee problem.

The momentum swung violently away from Murray after the opener, with Fish clinching the second set 6-1 and the third 7-6 on his way to booking a semi against Andy Roddick.

A match against Fish was an opportunity for Murray to prove definitively that he was over the crisis of confidence that had damaged his game earlier in the year. He has been through a series of battles with the American in 2010 - this was their third meeting, with Fish winning the previous two.

"When I played against [Fish] this year [at Queens Club and in Miami] I was really struggling confidence wise, I wasn't playing particularly well," Murray admitted before the match. Nothing could have been further from the truth heading into this encounter - Murray won his first ATP Tour title of the year in Toronto last week, defeating Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer on the way to lifting the trophy.

Fish had a swell of momentum behind him, too - he has looked the most dangerous American player in recent months, winning 20 of 23 matches since June and scooping two titles in the process.

With both players enjoying a purple patch of form, it was no surprise to see them evenly matched as they traded early blows in the first set. The contest wasn't being played at a frenetic pace - cumulative tiredness and the oppressive heat scuppered any chance of that - but the rallies were keenly contested, with both players more concerned with wearing the other down than with powering winners.

Murray belatedly worked the opportunity to make inroads into his opponent's serve when he forced two break points at 5-5. Fish did not flinch under pressure, however, and saw off the threat with consummate ease, leaving the Scot serving to stay in the set. He managed that, before going on to build a one-set lead by battling back from 3-1 down to win the tiebreak.

Fish didn't work a break point in the opening stanza - but he took the first one on offer in the second set, as Murray threatened the kind of unexpected implosion that forced him to play three sets in each of his previous encounters in the tournament.

Those fears appeared well founded as Murray, who was clearly wilting under the sun's draining heat, produced a series of tentative strokes on his way to falling 4-1 behind. At the change of ends ahead of the sixth game, with Murray feeling his knee, he received treatment from the physio in a bid to arrest his physical deterioration. Any improvements were not immediately obvious as the world No. 4 lost the next two games, forcing a deciding set.

Murray cut a dejected figure at the start of the third - not quite resigned to defeat, but not far off - but he continued to battle defiantly, despite his laboured movement. His groundstrokes were often lacking menace, but he was able to hammer back most of what Fish fired his way - until the match stretched beyond three hours and into a tiebreak, which proved a bridge too far for Murray.

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