Andy Murray crashed out of the Miami Open in the first round as he suffered a straight-sets defeat at the hands of Dusan Lajovic. The world No 52 lasted just an hour and 36 minutes on court as the Serb dispatched him 6-4 7-5. It means Britain is left without its two active Grand Slam champions after Emma Raducanu also lost earlier on Wednesday.
Murray and Lajovic were facing off for the first time with the Brit playing under the watchful eye of on-and-off coach Ivan Lendl. Murray was looking to bounce back from a third-round defeat to compatriot Jack Draper in Indian Wells, having previously reached the Doha final after regaining his form.
And it was the world No 52 who appeared to bring that form into his first meeting with the Serb as he set up break point chances with Lajovic serving at 1-2 and 2-3. But after Murray failed to capitalise on his opportunities, he found himself broken to love and quickly went 3-4 down.
The two-time champion in Miami couldn’t impose himself on the world No 76 for the rest of the set, losing it 6-4 in 42 minutes despite outclassing Lajovic on every service statistic and hitting fewer errors.
Set number two was more equal as both men got through their service games with ease. But almost out of nowhere, a poor game cost Murray the break at a crucial time as Lajovic took a 5-4 lead to serve for the match after just 80 minutes on court.
In what has become true Murray fashion, the 35-year-old refused to go down without a fight and managed to set up his first break point of the second set with Lajovic double-faulting to keep the Brit alive in the match.
Murray was quickly in trouble again a game later as he blew his 40-15 lead to face another break point and threw his racket on the floor in frustration. The problems coming for the former world No 1, as his ball clipped the net and failed to get over – allowing Lajovic to break for a second chance at serving it out.