Andy Murray Crashes Out

Last week, 13th Nov 14:55

A tired looking Andy Murray crashed out of the Paris masters last night to Radek Stepanek.

The Scot had faced a long battle into the early hours of Thursday morning against to reach the third round and in the early stages of the match there appeared to be no ill effects of the night before.

Murray, who was seeded fourth, was in complete control as Stepanek struggled with his serve, picking up just one service game, as Murray took the opener 6-1 in an impressive twenty minutes.

But Stepanek came out on fire in the second set and it was Murray whose serve began to fail him as the Czech opened up a 4-1 lead.

Murray only managed to get two more games in the second set, as Stepanek wrapped it up 3-6, and he began to luck sluggish and his shots began to lack conviction.

 Stepanek’s error littered game of the first set disappeared as he continued to pile the pressure on the struggling Scot breaking in the opening service game to take the advantage.

But Murray found a little bit of fight as he broke Stepanek before holding his serve to trail 5-4 but Stepanek wasn’t to be denied victory as he held his serve to wrap up the victory 6-1 3-6 4-6.

Despite the loss Murray showed no sign of the wrist injury that has kept him off the tour for a few weeks, he hasn’t played since Great Britain’s Davis Cup defeat.

Speaking after his match he said:  "I said last night it was going to be difficult to come back and feel 100%. It's obviously limited recovery after a long match.

"But you still come out and you try to give it your best shot. It wasn't good enough."

The season isn’t quite over for the Scot as he will take his place at the ATP World Tour Finals at the O2 in London in just over a week.

FemaleFirst Helen Earnshaw