Final anti-climax for Jamie and partner Huber

Published on Thursday 4 September 2008 23:25

JUST when it seemed that the Murrays were taking over the world, the great wave of Scots' success suddenly, if only partially and temporarily, fizzled out in New York. Jamie Murray and Liezel Huber were beaten in the US Open mixed doubles final 7-6, 6-4 by Leander Paes and Cara Black.

The Wimbledon champion of last year who giggled and flirted his way to victory in SW19 with Jelena Jankovic seemed to have formed a far more formidable partnership with Huber, but against the No5 seeds they were just edged out in a desperately tight and, at times, hugely entertaining final.

To lose to a team of such experience is no disgrace as Paes had already collected four grand slam doubles titles and three mixed trophies before he stepped on court yesterday, and Black has three women's doubles trophies in her collection.

All three of those were won with Huber, and together the two women form the best partnership in the world at the moment. On opposite sides of the net, they knew each other's games inside out and had the utmost respect for one another.

"It wasn't really a tough loss for us," Huber said after collecting her half of the $70,000 runners-up cheque. "They have so much experience and so many titles between them. They were just the better team. It was an honour to play them.

"Today it was going to be about who was going to take it from the other team, and they took it from us. We didn't hand it to them."

"It's tough to lose in the final but worse things will happen I suppose," Murray added. "It's been a good week for us, and to get to the final of the US Open is great. We just came up a bit short today.

"I'm looking forward to having a bit of a break now and then getting ready again to play in the Davis Cup in a couple of weeks' time."

Murray and Huber make an unlikely partnership. They are ten years apart in age and grew up on opposite sides of the globe.

Huber was born in South Africa and only took American citizenship after marrying an American, Tony Huber. But both Huber and Murray share a sharp sense of humour and a determination to win.

For all that she is extremely relaxed and jovial off-court, Huber is a ferocious competitor on it and she does not forget a slight easily.

Last year she and Murray lost in the semi-finals here in their first tournament together. They were beaten by Paes and his then partner Meghann Shaughnessy, and Huber will never forget it.

"We had a bad line call on the second to last point that could have potentially changed it for us," she remembered. "So we were looking forward to playing on a big court and having the Hawk-Eye system."

"We played great the whole week," Murray added. "Last year we lost in the semi-finals to this man (Paes] and I was looking for a bit of revenge but unfortunately it didn't happen."

They got their spell on the Arthur Ashe stadium with its computerised line calling technology but it did not help their chances.

Not even the support of the massed ranks of the Murray clan could sway their cause, and Murray's mother, Judy, and his grandparents Roy and Shirley Erskine sat and chewed their fingernails as the match unfolded.

At first Huber seemed to be the weak link in the chain as her serve was put under pressure in the first set. When the same thing happened in the semi-final, against Eric Butorac and Jill Craybas, she admitted that it was Murray who saw her through the crisis. His calm authority on court relaxed her just enough to pull out the big serves when she needed them.

It was the same yesterday, and with her courage screwed down firmly, she just about edged through the danger. But when their opponents piled on the pressure again in the first set tiebreak, she could not hold out any longer.

The Scots-American pairing skipped to a 5-2 lead and held two set points at 6-4, thanks to a Murray smash that landed plumb on Paes's shoelaces.

But when Black cracked a volley past her usual doubles partner and Murray netted a volley, the chance to take the lead had evaporated. Huber's missed return on the next point gave Paes and Black a set point and they grabbed it with glee.

The only break of serve in the entire match came in the fifth game of the second set and it was Murray who was broken. Again it was Black's scything volley that did the damage as she ripped a backhand between Murray and Huber and left them flapping their rackets at thin air. From 3-2 down, Murray and his partner could find no way back.