Cilic kills off Murray's US Open campaign

Andy Murray's tilt at the 2009 US Open title reached an unexpectedly premature end as he crashed to a straight-sets defeat against a player two years younger than him and ranked 14 places below him.

Croatia's Marin Cilic produced the performance of his career to beat the Scot 7-5 6-2 6-2 and reach the quarter-finals of the US Open.

The result will bring back unpleasant memories of Murray's 2009 Australian Open when he failed to justify his position as tournament favourite by crashing out in the last 16.

To make matters worse, the Dunblane-born youngster had beaten Cilic in all three of their previous encounters.

After the players emerged from the locker room to the strains of U2's Where The Streets Have No Name, it soon became apparent that Murray still hasn't found what he's looking for when it comes to achieving consistent grand slam results.

Although he started brightly, the turning point of the match came as early as the ninth game when Cilic saved two set points on his own serve and took advantage of a sloppy Murray service game to take the first set 7-5.

A double-break early in the second set saw him race to a 4-0 lead - ominously, by that stage, he had now won six games in a row.

Murray had two chances to recover one of the breaks at 2-5 but when he couldn't take either and found himself two sets down.

The third set followed the pattern of the second when Cilic broke the Murray serve at the first time of asking.

And the Croat's booming forehand meant it was no surprise when he broke again in the penultimate game.

Cilic, who didn't even have a victory celebration prepared at the end of the match, said of his beaten opponent: 'I don't think he was playing his best.'