Andy Murray suffers a swift 6-1 6-3 defeat to Australian 14th seed Alex De Minaur in the first round of the Monte Carlo Masters; British No 1 Cam Norrie beaten by Francisco Cerundolo, but Jack Draper is through to the second round with victory over Sebastian Baez
Monday 10 April 2023 18:11, UK
Andy Murray's return to clay ended in a swift, straight-sets defeat to Alex De Minaur in the first round of the Monte Carlo Masters.
Murray, who skipped all but one tournament of 2022's clay-court season, including the French Open, was playing in Monaco for the first time since 2017.
The 35-year-old was far from his best on his least favourite surface, losing the opening four games as De Minaur romped to 6-1 6-3 victory, sewing up the first set in just 35 minutes.
Murray got himself into a debate with umpire Carlos Bernardes early in the second set when the Briton's hat fell off during a point but the Brazilian did not stop play.
The pair were discussing the rule over the change of ends and it had a negative impact on Murray, who was broken in the next game amid a number of unforced errors.
In total, Murray committed 26 unforced errors compared to the eight of De Minaur, with the 14th-seeded Australian now set to face Germany's Jan-Lennard Struff in the second round.
There was also a defeat for Cameron Norrie in the opening round, as he went down in straight sets to Argentinian Francisco Cerundolo.
Having been upset by France's Gregoire Barrere in his first match at the Miami Open last month, Norrie fell to a 6-3 6-4 defeat in Monaco..
Norrie clawed his way back into the match after a fast start from Cerundolo but did not look settled throughout and made 18 unforced errors compared to only eight winners.
A netted forehand gave Cerundolo the crucial break in the ninth game of the second set as the pressure on the British No 1 finally told.
Having started the season with a run of 21 wins from 25 matches, Norrie, ranked 13th, now finds himself needing to rediscover his confidence for the rest of the clay-court stretch.
There was better news, however, for Jack Draper, who made a winning return from injury as he battled to a 6-3 7-5 win over another Argentinian, Sebastian Baez.
The 21-year-old, ranked 56th in the world, saved 11 of the 12 break points he faced on his serve, while he took three of his own four chances to set up a clash with Polish 10th seed Hubert Hurkacz in the second round.
