I think it could be done even better than in O(n+m). Instead of starting at the upper right corner do a binary search on last column and find the biggest element that is still smaller than the given number. Say it's gonna be A[i, m-1]. Now we could throw away all rows up to an including i (since A[i, m-1] is larger than all of these elements) and the last column. Repeat everything for a smaller matrix of size (n - i, m - 1);
Let the matrix is n*m matrix. Then O(n log m) solution is trivial (binary search in each row). There is a easy O(n+m) solution too. The idea is to start from upper right corner (mat[0][m-1]) and traverse toward lower left corner (mat[n-1][0]). On the way check each entry and depending on whether larger go left or down. If there is a solution you will find it on the way. Or you will arrive to a point where you can no longer move without going out of the matrix. Either way you will check at most O(n+m) entries thus the solution in O(n+m).