The phrase "and failed to break" is correct and usable in written English.
It can be used to describe a situation where an attempt to break something was unsuccessful.
Example: "Despite their efforts to shatter the glass, they hit it with all their might and failed to break."
Alternatives: "and did not succeed in breaking" or "and were unable to break".
The United States this month tried and failed to break the deadlock.
My work exhibited every bad habit they'd tried and failed to break.
When the special session ended on Friday morning, Republicans immediately tried, and failed, to break the latest filibusters.
John II tried and failed to break what was becoming the Venetian monopoly of Byzantine trade, and he sought to come to terms with the new kingdom of Hungary, to whose ruler he was related by marriage.
Several icebreakers had tried and failed to break a path to our ship, the Akademik Shokalskiy, but seeing the endless field of compressed ice from above, and the seemingly tiny Shokalskiy embedded within it, brought the situation into a whole new focus.
A series of icebreakers tried, and failed, to break a path to free the stricken ship and this international rescue effort – five nations working together amid the harshest conditions in one of the most isolated areas on Earth – caught the world's attention.
The MEN is essential and in its absence, cells arrest with high CDK activity and fail to break down their spindles (reviewed in Caydasi and Pereira 2012).
The timing of the decision from the constitutional court -- on the eve of the rally and just after Serbian police broke and failed to clear strikers from a key coal mine -- is no accident, Mr. Svilanovic said.
She only won 54% of points on her first serve and failed to create a single break point against Kvitova.
He was guilty of 13 of those unforced errors as Dimitrov raced 4-0 andad, and failed to convert four break points in the sixth game of the second set.
Despite sending down 10 aces compared to Berdych's two, Murray could not dictate the match and failed to convert any of his four break point opportunities.
