Andy Murray was unable to make his opportunities count as he suffered a second-round loss to Andrey Rublev; You can watch Indian Wells live on Sky Sports plus over 80 tournaments a year, including the US Open, exclusively live on Sky Sports Tennis
Saturday 9 March 2024 09:58, UK
Andy Murray suffered a second-round loss to Andrey Rublev in a hard-fought encounter at the BNP Paribas Open at Indian Wells on Friday night.
Looking for just his second victory over a top-five opponent since 2016 and buoyed by an impressive performance in the opening round against David Goffin, Murray matched fifth seed Rublev for most of the contest.
But he was unable to take four set points in the opener and succumbed to a 7-6 (7-3) 6-1 loss in the Californian desert.
Rublev made unwanted headlines last week when he was defaulted from the ATP tournament in Dubai for aggressively yelling in the face of a line judge.
The Russian had denied using bad language, and had his ranking points and prize money restored on appeal, but he issued a public apology for his behaviour ahead of Friday's contest with Murray.
Both men often struggle to contain their emotions on court but here Rublev was on his best behaviour, bar the odd shout towards his box.
There were plenty of opportunities for frustration to surface in the first set, especially when Murray, whose first serve and backhand were particularly effective, moved to 0-40 at 5-4 ahead.
But Rublev saved all three set points and then a fourth that followed before powering his way through the tie-break, helped by 29 winners in 13 games, 18 alone off his monstrous forehand.
Murray then found himself in deep trouble when he was broken from 40-0 up in the fourth game of the second set, with two double faults hurting him badly, and from there Rublev ran away with the contest.
While it is another defeat for the Scot to digest, he will at least leave Indian Wells - probably for the final time - to head to Miami feeling more positive about his tennis, with some encouraging signs for future tournaments.
"Very impressive from Rublev to come out and play that sort of level," says Murray's former coach Miles Maclagan on Sky Sports Tennis.
"The respect and memories he had of Murray were Murray's undoing because he took absolutely nothing for granted and was ready to go after it.
"When you know you just have produce a good level and go after it almost takes the pressure off. It gives you that one option, which was almost the same for Murray.
"He looked to play aggressively and he knew he needed to play well. There were moments with those six break points in the first set."
Emma Raducanu returns to action when the former US Open champion takes on 30th seed Dayana Yastremska at 7pm on Court 3 - live on Sky Sports Tennis.
British No 1 and 2021 champion Cameron Norrie faces world No 55 Lorenzo Sonego at the same time over on Court 4.
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