Polish power knocks out Murray

Towering Polish qualifier Jerzy Janowicz upset Paris - Agencies Towering Polish qualifier Jerzy Janowicz upset Andy Murray 5-7, 7-6 (7/4), 6-2 yesterday to complete the early exit of the elite from the Paris Masters. Murray, seeded third, missed a match point as he followed second seed Novak Djokovic out the door of the Bercy arena 24 hours after the tepid Serb had been beaten by American Sam Querrey. World No. 1 Roger Federer and injured No. 4 Rafael Nadal did not play the event, which wraps up the ATP regular season and will decide the last two qualifiers for the eight-man World Tour Finals starting on Monday in London. Murray had never been beyond the Bercy quarterfinals and looked like having the perfect chance to fix that blemish in his record. But beanpole Janowicz upset the form book with his huge serve, which produced 22 aces and 51 winners in just under two and a half hours. The 21-year-old winner scored the biggest win of his career on his third match point and fell to the ground with his hands over his eyes lying on the court in pure joy. The defeat means that the quarterfinals will be the first in four years at a Masters 1000 not to feature at least one of the top four players. Janowicz had beaten a pair of top 20 opponents this week in number 19 Philipp Kohlschreiber and No.15 Marin Cilic, never facing a break point in those matches. Murray came out firing against the youngster’s huge serve and won the opening set on a break of serve through his opponent’s double-fault. But the challenger came back in the second after going down a break, putting Murray on the back foot from a pair of sloppy forehands to level at 5-5 after the Scot had served for victory while putting a forehand cross-court wide on match point. As the set went to a tiebreak, Janowicz took more initiative, winning it on a volleyed winner off a weak Murray dropshot. The Pole seized the match in the final set with two breaks of serve and a 5-1 lead before putting it away two games later. London qualifier Tomas Berdych, the Czech fifth seed, came back to defeat South African Kevin Anderson 1-6, 6-3, 6-4 while the luck continued for Gilles Simon as the Frenchman advanced when Japanese opponent Kei Nishikoi withdrew with an ankle injury. Simon won in the first round against lucky loser Victor Hanescu, who replaced Federer in the draw. Three men stayed in the race for the two remaining spots at next week’s season-ending event. Serb Janko Tipsarevic overcame Igor Sijsling 6-4, 7-6 (7/0), Argentine Juan Monaco beat Grigor Dimitrov 7-6 (7/4), 6-2 And Spain’s Nicolas Almagro defeated countryman Albert Ramos 7-6 (7/1), 6-7 (4/7), 6-3. French 12th seed Richard Gasquet lost his chance to qualify for the year-end event as he went down to Kevin Anderson 7-6 (7/5), 4-6, 6-1 Murray needed just over 90 minutes, winning with a dozen aces and 24 winners while breaking Mathieu four times.