Heartbreak for Murray; Rusedski Also Falls

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Andrew Murray's debut at the Stella Artois Championships ended in agony on Thursday after a combination of a twisted ankle and cramps contributed to his 7-6(1), 6-7(5), 7-5 defeat at the hands of sixth seed Thomas Johansson.

It was a heartbreaking way to end the third round match for the 18-year-old Scot, who came within two points of a famous victory with Johansson serving at 4-5 in the final set.

With the Swede staring down the barrel of defeat at 15-30, Murray fell awkwardly on his ankle and needed a medical timeout, as ATP trainer Bill Norris and a sporting Johansson rushed to the Briton's aid.

Although Murray was able to return to his feet, the on-set of cramps in the following game all but guaranteed the Scotsman's fate. He failed to win another point, as Johansson booked his place in the quarterfinals after a minute short of three hours on court.

"I'm very disappointed," said Murray. "I think I played a pretty good match, but I'm a little bit annoyed that I wasn't able to finish it. Because I think at 5-4, I was 30-Love up, and when I went over my ankle, I couldn't really continue after that. I was getting a lot of cramps and I couldn't really move. I'm a bit disappointed I wasn't able to finish the match."

However, Murray allayed any fears that the injury could be more serious. "I'm going to have a scan tomorrow, and hopefully it won't be too bad and I'll try and get ready for Nottingham," he said. "I don't think it's too bad because I was able to kind of walk on it. But I think it's quite badly swollen. Even if I won the match, maybe I wouldn't have been able to play tomorrow."

Johansson, the former Australian Open champion and winner on grass at Nottingham in 2001, was very impressed with the way his opponent had played.

"He's already very, very good, but he's going to be even better," said the Swede. "He can certainly be a Top 50 player. He serves 140 miles per hour, and to do that at 18 is very impressive…With his strokes and serve, he is going to be really, really good."

The match had started so positively for Murray, who registered his first career ATP match win in the first round against Spain's Santiago Ventura before following up with an impressive victory against No. 9 seed Taylor Dent.

Against Johansson, Murray had a set point in the opener with Johansson serving at 5-6, but the Swede produced an ace when it mattered most and went on to take the tie-break 7-1.

The second set also went with serve to another tie-break, and this time it was Murray who came out on top, recovering from 4-2 down to force a decider.

With the packed Centre Court crowd urging their new hero on, Johansson did his best to silence them as he broke Murray's serve at the start of the final set and led 2-0. However, Murray fought back and the match seemed destined to be settled in another tie-break. Murray out-aced Johansson 17 to 16, but disaster struck for the 18-year-old in the 10th game.

In the quarterfinals, Johansson will now take on Tim Henman having won only one of their five previous meetings.

Meanwhile, there was further bad news for British fans when Greg Rusedski, the No. 14 seed, went down in straight sets to No. 4 seed Radek Stepanek. Rusedski, a semifinalist at The Queen's Club eight years ago, fell 6-3, 7-6 in 1 hour, 18 minutes.

"He played very, very consistent, solid," said Rusedski. "I think he served something like 78 percent [first serves]. So he played a very clever match today, and I just didn't take my chances where I had to. So credit to him; he was the better man today."

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