ANDY MURRAY slipped to a defeat at the hands of Russia's Roman Safiullin in the second round of the Open de Rennes.
Having eased past Yannick Maden in the first round of the ATP Challenger Tour event, Murray had no answer to Safiullin - who eased to a 6-2 4-6 6-1 victory.
Murray had praised the US Open triumph of Emma Raducanu earlier in the week but the three-time grand slam winner is some way off adding to his own tally at the moment.
Safiullin - ranked 158 in the world, 42 places below Murray - had his number on the hard courts of Rennes, where Murray had entered as the fifth-seed wildcard.
Murray was moved around the court in the early exchanges as Safiullin impressed, breaking twice to take a commanding lead in the first set.
He was unable to serve out for the set as Murray began what he hoped would be an inspired comeback only to be broken for the third time.
The second set started on a more even keel, with Safiullin playing a fine net game to keep going with the serve.
At 4-4, Murray broke for the first time and a fine rally to go 30-15 ahead in the 10th game showed signs of the fitter Scotsman shining through as he held to take the match into a deciding set.
A chance to break in the first game of the final set passed Murray by and instead he would be broken himself to fall behind.
Safiullin would break again, this time to love, as Murray's double-fault saw the match begin to slide from his grasp.
A 13th ace from Safiullin took him a game away from progressing but Murray saved five break points to stay in the match.
But it was only a short stay of execution as Safiullin wrapped up a deserved victory in the next game.
Why are you making commenting on The National only available to subscribers?
We know there are thousands of National readers who want to debate, argue and go back and forth in the comments section of our stories. We’ve got the most informed readers in Scotland, asking each other the big questions about the future of our country.
Unfortunately, though, these important debates are being spoiled by a vocal minority of trolls who aren’t really interested in the issues, try to derail the conversations, register under fake names, and post vile abuse.
So that’s why we’ve decided to make the ability to comment only available to our paying subscribers. That way, all the trolls who post abuse on our website will have to pay if they want to join the debate – and risk a permanent ban from the account that they subscribe with.
The conversation will go back to what it should be about – people who care passionately about the issues, but disagree constructively on what we should do about them. Let’s get that debate started!
Callum Baird, Editor of The National
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel