update Tsonga out of tune and out of the tournament

A large obstacle was removed from Andy Murray's potential path to US Open glory as Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, the No.5 seed and the Scot's likely quarter-final opponent, crashed out to little-heralded Slovak Martin Klizan.

The Frenchman, a Wimbledon semi-finalist this year, was playing on his preferred Louis Armstrong Stadium, but went down 6-4, 1-6, 6-1, 6-3 to the world No.52, who had previously won only one other match at Flushing Meadows. The man credited with the biggest shock of the tournament thus far was beaten earlier this year by GB's Dan Evans in a decisive Davis Cup rubber in Glasgow.

A tired, emotional Tsonga was at a loss when it came to rationalising his defeat. He claimed to have felt no physical ailments, but the season appeared to have caught up with him.

"It seemed like I couldn't hit the ball hard enough to put my opponent out of position," he said. "I'm disappointed because it's a major and I haven't lost in this round for a couple of years now."

"I think for the moment there is a big difference," he said on the topic of the top three versus the rest. "They win tournaments. I give a lot of myself every day. I never get rewards. That's why sometimes it's tough. I have to keep playing every week because I'm not [Roger] Federer, not [Novak] Djokovic, and if I want to keep my ranking and not play these guys in the round of 16 I have to play these tournaments."

Klizan, 23, who is coached by Karol Kucera, unsurprisingly felt differently. "I'm very happy, and that's it," he said.