One of the familiar sights in tennis has been the appearance of Andy Murray in the quarterfinals of a major tournament. Kevin Anderson? He had never reached that round of a major.
Anderson, a 29-year-old South African who played in college at Illinois, has been competing in major tournaments since 2008, but seven trips to the fourth round of a major ended in a loss.
Aside from the 2013 French Open, which he did not enter, Murray had reached every major quarterfinal since 2011.
But that pattern came to a stunning reversal Monday when Anderson upended the third-seeded Murray, 7-6 (5), 6-3, 6-7 (2), 7-6 (0), in Louis Armstrong Stadium in the biggest upset of the men’s draw in this year’s United States Open.