Murray slumps in Moscow
Andy Murray went out of the Kremlin Cup in the second round
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Thursday, 11, Oct 2007 05:28
Andy Murray's impressive run of form has come to an end in Moscow with a surprise straight-sets defeat to Serbia's Janko Tipsarevic.
The British number one had beaten the world number 68 in Metz earlier this month but today crashed out of the Kremlin Cup to the same player.
Murray lost 6-4 7-5 to the 23-year-old, ending his hopes of a third career title at only the second-round stage.
After a sluggish start which enabled his opponent to win the first set with one break of serve, Murray rallied in the second to take a 5-3 lead.
But his ability seemed to desert him at that stage and he was unable to stop the Serbian from winning four games on the bounce to complete a relatively straightforward victory.
Tipsarevic now has a 2-1 head-to-head lead against Murray, having beaten him at Queen's last year before the Scot eked out a 6-4 1-6 6-2 win at the Moselle Open.
World number 35 Radek Stepanek of the Czech Republic now awaits the Serbian in the quarter-final.
Murray, meanwhile, will now turn his attentions to Madrid, St Petersburg and Paris, where he will look to bounce back from this disappointment.
His end-of-year schedule has been particularly busy, having much time to make up after he missed about three months of the season with a wrist injury.