Andy Murray crashes out of China Open first round
Andy Murray fell at the first hurdle of the China Open as the British veteran lost to Australia's Alex de Minaur 6-3, 5-7, 7-6 (6) here on Thursday.
Andy Murray was nowhere near his best, but the defending champion still managed to beat the unseeded Benoit Paire 7-6(1), 6-4, 6-4 to reach the quarter-finals of Wimbledon on Monday.
Paire, known for his flashy shots, had an error-strewn game, firing in as many winner which ultimately proved to be his bane, especially in a remarkable opening set.
The Frenchman was 4-2 up, before Murray roared back to level proceedings with both players being broken on several occasions. It went to a tie-break but Paire astonishingly seemed to give up, as World No.1 Murray raced through, losing just the one point to take the opener with 55 minutes on the clock.
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With Paire seemingly fading fast, Murray broke in the first game of the opening set but Paire came back to break the two-time Wimbledon champion to equal the score at 3-3.
Murray broke again and this time it proved decisive as he took 5-4 lead and served out the set after saving a few break points and the Scot was in cruise control then.
Paire, to his credit, kept pushing Murray but was never able to break the top seed and the home favourite once again broke at a key stage in the match to reach his 10th straight Wimbledon quarter-final.
The Scot will face American Sam Querrey, who outlasted South African Kevin Anderson in a gruelling five-set fourth-round clash, against whom he has a far superior head-to-head record (7-1).
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