Murray's tango in Paris ended by Almagro
Andy Murray knocked out of French Open by Nicolas Almagro
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Friday, 30, May 2008 10:33
Andy Murray's dreams of reaching the later stages of the French Open for the first time were dashed after a four-set defeat to Spain's Nicolas Almagro.
The Scot was finished off in the third round by the clay-court specialist, who has tasted success twice in ATP tournaments on clay already this season.
However, it could have been very different for Murray, who threw away a number of chances at crucial points in the game and suffered from the indiscipline and on-court temper tantrums that have affected him in the past.
After losing the first set 6-3 following a number of errors, the Scot looked to be back on track after a tiebreak win in the second set to square things up.
However, despite going a break up in the third at 3-2 he gifted Almagro a way back into the match by failing to capitalise and the Spaniard reeled off four consecutive games to take a 2-1 advantage in sets.
Murray battled hard in the fourth set but again struggled at crucial times, dropping his serve at 4-4 to give the 19th seed an excellent chance to close out victory.
But the Briton scrapped and eventually landed a powerful forehand winner on the line to the delight of a supportive Parisian crowd to level things again.
It only proved to be a false dawn, however, as Murray was broken again in the next game. Almagro made no mistake the second time around and finished off the tie to win 6-3 6-7 6-3 7-5.