Match report:

Murray and Huber failed to reach the US Open mixed doubles final last night, beaten 6-7, 7-6, 10-5 in a champions tie-break decider by Leander Paes, of India, and Meghann Shaughnessy, of the United States, the confidence born of a ten-day union not quite able to secure for Jamie the extraordinary achievement of consecutive grand-slam tournament finals. But Andys big brother has to be the sports most eligible team-mate.

Huber made her move on him during the New Haven tournament, which immediately preceded the US Open. Having split after Wimbledon from Kevin Ullyett, of Zimbabwe, a partner with whom she had reached the 2005 Australian Open final, Huber was seeking someone who would offer her a genuine chance of lifting the title because I would not enter any event unless I thought I could win, she said. They came agonisingly close.

Despite the commotion surrounding Murrays Wimbledon success with Jankovic, it was akin to a blind date because Huber said she had never seen him play. It is always pot luck in the mixed and I was scared because I know Im a very consistent player [Huber reached a career-high No 2 in doubles on the Sony Ericsson WTA Tour last month], and in the mixed you have to play as an individual and hope it works as a team.

I just told Jamie that I can play as well as I can and we can lose, and I can play as badly as I can and we can lose. In mixed, it is totally up to the man, she said. Yeah, no pressure, he replied.

But there is no doubt that he deserves everything he is going to get from this sport because he is a great player who will, I believe, reach the top ten in doubles. He is a leftie [left-hander], which helps, but it is not just the strokes, it is about attitude, being confident, about being right mentally, its the whole package.

The semi-final was a tense, exhilarating struggle because Shaughnessy served tremendously well and Paes, at 34, remains the very best of his craft, especially around the environs of the net. Hubers close friend, Martina Navratilova, left near the end of the second set, hardly daring to look, but Murray was unable to keep his partner on track. At one stage, they were even docked a point for hindrance, when Murrays exclamation at the net was said to have put Shaughnessy off her stroke.

Murray and Huber were twice just two points from victory late in the second set after fighting back from a break down.

They led 5-4 in the second and were 30-30 on Paes serve and were again two points short of a place in the final with the scores at 5-5 in the second-set breaker.

Murray, who will team up with Paes in upcoming tournaments in Bangkok and Tokyo, said: This loss is very disappointing because things could not have been closer for two sets.

Article from: http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/sport/tennis/article2387928.ece