Andy Murray follows Emma Raducanu with first-round exit at Miami Open; 35-year-old beaten 6-4 7-5 by Serbia's Dusan Lajovic in the pair's maiden meeting on the ATP Tour; Kyle Edmund also eliminated on tough day for British players
Thursday 23 March 2023 08:19, UK
Andy Murray followed fellow Briton Emma Raducanu in being knocked out of the Miami Open in the first round after a straight-sets defeat to Dusan Lajovic.
The 35-year-old crashed to a 6-4 7-5 loss to his Serb opponent - hours after Raducanu had been eliminated from the women's event with a three-set reverse against Bianca Andreescu.
Murray was looking to bounce back from his third-round defeat to Jack Draper in Indian Wells last week but slipped up against the world No 76, who came through in a little over 90 minutes.
World No 52 Murray was unable to take break-point opportunities in the opening set and was subsequently broken himself to slip 4-3 down before Lajovic wrapped up the set in 42 minutes.
Lajovic served for the match at 5-4 in the second set only for Murray to break back - but the Scot then lost his next service game and his opponent proceeded to close out his first hard-court win of the 2023 season.
"Some days you obviously don't hit the ball your best," Murray said after the defeat. "I served pretty well, but the rest of the game was a bit of a problem.
"I made a number of errors that obviously I wouldn't expect to be making. I didn't really feel like I moved particularly well, which is really important for me.
"I wasn't expecting to play like that, even based on the last few days because I've been decent in practice.
"Obviously I was hoping to do much better here. Whether I stay and train here on the clay for a few days before heading to Spain, I'm not sure."
Murray - champion of this event in 2009 and 2013 - would have been eyeing a potential third-round encounter with new world No 1 Carlos Alcaraz in Miami but that prospect could now await Lajovic if he overcomes Maxime Cressy and Alcaraz beats Facundo Bagnis.
Kyle Edmund's tournament was also ended early as he lost to Wu Yibing 7-5 7-5 in his first match since the Australian Open.
