Top seed Andy Murray crashes out of Valencia Open
Juan Monaco sent Andy Murray out of the Valencia Open on Wednesday, while Pablo Cuevas, Gilles Simon, Gael Monfils and Marcel Granollers all progressed to the second round of the tournament.
Murray prolonged the game by one set, but saw himself beaten by the end of the third as the Argentine won 6–2 3–6 6–2.
"Juan played very well. I know he has been injured for a while but today he proved that he is a great player," last year's winner told the official website of the Valencia Open. "He doesn't usually make many mistakes and it's easy to lose against him if
you are not on top of your game."
Murray made a meagre start to the game, as Monaco broke the 23-year-old's serve to gain a 3–1 lead in the first set.
Monaco, who is ranked 25th in the world, then broke a second time to earn a 5–2 lead and held his serve to claim the opener.
At the start of the second set, neither player was able to hold their first service games. At 1–1, Murray began hitting his serve with more confidence as the world number three saw out the set in comfortable fashion, claiming it 6–2.
But in the final set, Monaco looked resurgent and regained his composure on the serve. The Argentine had a first serve percentage of 66 on Murray's 47.
Monaco broke Murray's twice in the final set before he found himself with a match point on Murray's serve at 5–2.
The 26-year-old broke again to claim his spot in the last eight of the tournament, where he will play Pablo Andujar or Granollers.
Simon defeats third seed Fernando Verdasco
Frenchman Simon also progressed to the quarter-finals on Thursday, overcoming Spanish third seed Fernando Verdasco in two sets 6–1 6–3. Simon will play Russia's Nikolay Davydenko in the quarters.
Elsewhere, Monfils entered the tournament in convincing fashion, overcoming Eduardo Schwank, another Argentine, 6–3 6–3.
The eighth seed won four of six break points and made short work of Schwank in a game that lasted just over an hour.
Monfils will face Swiss player Stanislas Wawrinka in the round of 16 on Thursday.
Uruguayan Cuevas defeated Spain's Albert Ramos-Vinolas, who failed to capitalize on his home advantage over the two sets. Cuevas won 6–3 6–4 to set up a meeting with Potito Starace of Italy in the round of 16.
Spain's Granollers defeated French player Benoit Paire 6–2 6–4 and will now play Spanish prospect Andujar in the round of 16.
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