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In what is becoming an unfortunate pattern at the Sony Ericsson Open, Venus Williams ran out of steam.
By the time she lost to the hard-hitting Pole, Agnieszka Radwanska, Venus basically couldn't run anymore and went out of the quarterfinals 6-4, 6-1.
Like her sister, Serena, and Andy Roddick -- the only American Grand Slam winners through the past decade -- Venus has been battling injury and illness and came into this tournament just happy to be able to play. So it was a plus for her to get as far as she did. But she was still frustrated.
Although she is suffering from Sjogren's syndrome, an autoimmune disease, Venus was vehement in insisting she did not have a conditioning problem. "I don't have a condition problem," she said. "Let's get that straight."
Then she repeated those two sentences just so we would understand she meant it. But a few moments later she was saying, "It's disappointing not being able to feel my best today. I was able to keep it close in the first set and try different strategies, but it was definitely a mental battle, and I didn't conquer the mental part of it."
Well, OK, so she is saying she was mentally fatigued after not playing many matches, which can certainly be a factor. But another fact is this -- at the end she could hardly raise a gallop.
So there is a long way to go before she can string together the kind of stunning performance she produced to beat the Wimbledon champion Petra Kvitova in the second round. Everyone who admires her courage and her talent will hope that, by the time Wimbledon comes around, she will be able to resemble the real Venus again.
The rest of a hot afternoon was taken up by a fascinating battle between No. 4 seed Andy Murray and the ninth-ranked Serb, Janko Tipsarevic. Murray got away to a routine first-set lead of 4-2 and then, excuse me, he started to burp. If it is possible to be drunk without consuming alcohol, he was drunk.
"I have this thing which tests how hydrated you are, which I used before the match, and I was very hydrated," said Murray who eventually lifted his game to earn an impressive 4-6, 6-3, 6-4 victory.
"So I don't know if I drunk too much, but the stomach was filled with liquid. Each time I took a sip I wanted to burp, basically."
Murray was smiling as he recounted the moments when he had to call a doctor on court to give him some pills to settle his stomach and, given the eventual outcome, he had every reason to be pleased to reach the semifinals of a tournament he won in 2009.
"Today's match was really important for me after being a break down a few times in the second set," he said. "At the end of the third set when I was up a break, he had a break point in a tight game, and I came up with some big serves and served my way out of trouble, which is important."
It certainly was because Murray had not been serving well early on and was facing a fierce competitor who, according to coach Darren Cahill, has the best serve of any player standing 6 feet or less on the tour.
"Tipsarevic is really tough," said Cahill who has worked with Murray on a part-time basis over the past year. "He has this great backhand down the line and is a real competitor."
While Murray was having his stomach problems, he lost six straight games to go a set and 2-0 down but after a series of service breaks, he came out on top in that set, breaking in the eighth game after he had turned on the after burners to reach a Tipsarevic drop shot. He had just come up with three great drop shots of his own in the previous game and, as the third set unfolded, the crowd was offered more exciting stroke play as the Serb tried in vain to stem the turning tide.
He came close when he reached that break back point at 3-4, but Murray came up with a terrific 130-mph ace that caught the outside line and ended up a deserving winner.
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