Defending champ Andy Murray bows out in Valencia
Defending champion Andy Murray has been dumped out of the Valencia Open 500 in the second round by world No. 25 Juan Monaco.
Having been broken twice in the opening set, the world No. 4 bounced back to win the second and force the match to a deciding third set.
Once there, however, Murray again found himself playing catch-up tennis, as the Argentinian took a 4-1 lead and marched towards a place in the quarter-finals.
In the end, Monaco sealed the win with his fifth break of serve of the match, wrapping up the 6-2, 6-3, 6-2 victory after two hours and 11 minutes on court.
Monaco’s win today takes the pair’s head-to-head record to 2-2 and makes amends for his semi-final loss to Murray at the Shanghai Masters 1000 during October, a tournament Murray went on to win, defeating 16-time Grand Slam champion Roger Federer in the final.
Despite his loss in the singles today, Murray’s tournament is not yet over as he is teaming up with brother Jamie in the doubles. Team Murray sealed their place in the quarter-finals with a first round win over Spanish duo Feliciano Lopez and Fernando Verdasco yesterday.
Earlier eighth seed Gael Monfils won his first round singles match against Eduardo Schwank 6-3, 6-3 as he made the first step towards claiming titles at consecutive tournaments, after being crowned champion at the Open Sud de France in Montpellier over the weekend.
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