Federer relives ‘beautiful, perfect, emotional’ farewell at Laver Cup last year
Andy Murray suffered a surprise second-round defeat to Aslan Karatsev at the Zhuhai Championships.
The Scot was beaten 4-6 6-3 6-2 by the Russian and dashed hopes of an all-British quarter-final clash with Cameron Norrie.
Murray drew first blood in the match after winning an eventful first set after 72 minutes of play.
It initially looked like it would be plain sailing for the former world No.1, who raced into a 5-2 lead after breaking his opponent’s serve twice.
There was an admirable response from the world No. 63, who broke back on the Murray serve before forcing his rival to serve out the set.
The Scot was rattled and staved off two break points in the 10th game before eventually prevailing on his third set point.
However, momentum was firmly with Karatsev at that point as he broke Murray twice early in the second set.
The 30-year-old appeared to be in cruise control after moving 4-1 ahead, and although the three-time Grand Slam winner broke back, the match was soon level.
The third set was won in even more dominant fashion by the 2021 Australian Open semi-finalist, who moved into a 4-0 lead after breaking the Murray serve twice.
The remaining four games all went the way of serve as Karatsev secured victory on his second match point.
Karatsev’s win means he has now emerged victorious in both meetings with Murray after previously overcoming the Scot in last year’s Sydney Classic final.
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