Andy Murray followed fellow Briton Emma Raducanu in being knocked out of the Miami Open in the first round after a straight-sets defeat to Dusan Lajovic.
The 35-year-old crashed to a 6-4 7-5 loss to his Serb opponent – hours after Raducanu had been eliminated from the women’s event with a three-set reverse against Bianca Andreescu.
Murray was looking to bounce back from his third-round defeat to Jack Draper in Indian Wells last week but slipped up against the world No 76, who came through in a little over 90 minutes.
World No 52 Murray was unable to take break-point opportunities in the opening set and was subsequently broken himself to slip 4-3 down before Lajovic wrapped up the set in 42 minutes.
Lajovic served for the match at 5-4 in the second set only for Murray to break back – but the Scot then lost his next service game and his opponent proceeded to close out his first hard-court win of the 2023 season.
Murray – champion of this event in 2009 and 2013 – would have been eyeing a potential third-round encounter with new world No 1 Carlos Alcaraz in Miami but that prospect could now await Lajovic if he overcomes Maxime Cressy and Alcaraz beats Facundo Bagnis.
Kyle Edmund’s tournament was also ended early as he lost to Wu Yibing 7-5 7-5 in his first match since the Australian Open.