Andy Murray's celebrations were cut short as the Scottish sixth-seed was knocked out of the Rotterdam Open by Robin Haase.
Scottish ace brought back to earth in Rotterdam
Andy Murray's celebrations were cut short as the Scottish sixth-seed was knocked out of the Rotterdam Open on Wednesday.
Murray, who lifted the Marseille title on Sunday, was brought crashing back to earth as he was brushed aside 7-5 6-3 by Dutch wildcard Robin Haase.
World number two Rafael Nadal had no such trouble in his comfortable 6-4 6-4 victory over Russia's Dmitry Tursunov, but former champion Lleyton Hewitt was also sent packing.
Nadal said: "I felt very confident about this match and every aspect of my game.
"On this surface I have to serve well to play a good tournament this week and my service today was okay but I can do five or 10 km faster."
Defeat for Murray marks the second occasion this year he has followed up a title success with a first-round exit - the 20-year-old having won in Doha only to be knocked out the Australian Open in the first round by Jo-Wilfried Tsonga.
Slower
"I had trouble with my return game," he said. "The court here is much slower than in Marseille.
"And the rallies last for an average of nine or ten shots instead of four or five like last week. But I wasn't tired physically or mentally coming in, I felt decent.
"I'll go home now and relax a few days before trying to train outdoors for Dubai and the American swing at Indian Wells and Miami.
"So far this year has been pretty good. If I have a few more months like this it will definitely help me stay in the top ten."
Scalp
But Murray was not the only big name to fall in the first round, with former world number one Hewitt also out.
The Australian went down 3-6 7-6 (7-4) 7-6 (7-4) to Italian Andreas Seppi and has now lost seven of his last eight tiebreaks.
"I didn't come here expecting a whole heap," said Hewitt, who has battled back from a string of ankle injuries.
"I would have liked to have gotten a few rounds here, but I have to forget about it now.
"When you're at your peak, your game's on auto-pilot. You manage to get over the line in matches like this.
"When you haven't had a lot of tight matches, you hang back waiting for things to happen.
"But I played well at the Australian Open and I absolutely think I can get back to the top five. You just need a bit of luck, you need a break."
Fifth seed Tomas Berdych also put out two-time finalist Ivan Ljubicic 6-3 6-3 and Spain's Fernando Verdasco overcame Finland's Jarkko Nieminen 6-2 6-2.
Russian Teimuraz Gabashvili became the first man through to the quarter-finals thanks to a 6-2 7-6 (9-7) victory over Frenchman Nicolas Mahut.
