Andy Murray suffered perhaps his most painful defeat of the season in a 7-6 (7-5) 4-6 7-5 loss to Alex de Minaur in the first round of the Paris Masters on Monday.
Murray, who won the title in the French capital in 2016, looked on course to finally end his drought against the Australian and led 5-2 in the deciding set but failed to convert on a match point opportunity at 5-4 before he left. lost to De Minaur for the sixth time in a row.
The Scot will now weigh up his options on whether to play at the Moselle Open in Metz or the Sofia Open in Bulgaria next week, before Britain’s Davis Cup quarter-final against Serbia in Malaga on Thursday, November 23.
In September, De Minaur rallied from 2-5 in the third set against the Scot to triumph in Beijing, saving three match points. It was déjà vu for Murray as De Minaur kept his slim ATP Finals qualification alive. chances.
The former world number 1 looked on course to end his run of defeats against his first round opponent after recovering from losing the opening set tiebreak to level and then forced two breaks to lead 5-2.
However, Murray failed to hold either of his own next two service games as the world number 13 rallied before turning around the set to seal another hard-earned win.
A first match point begged for in the 10th game when Murray sent a return long and smashed his racket to the ground after giving De Minaur a break point opportunity, which he converted to level at 5-5.
After De Minaur then stood his ground, Murray’s mood boiled over again during the change of ends when he threw the drinks bottles and towel from his bench.
De Minaur grew with the momentum and was awarded a match point of his own after the chair umpire overruled a call on the baseline, which turned out to be out.
Murray would get no reprieve as he sent a return into the net, sealing De Minaur’s victory in a three-hour epic.
Murray then slammed his racket to the ground again before leaving the court after another heartbreaking defeat.
In other action, Alejandro Davidovich Fokina achieved his 30th ATP Masters 1000 match victory, beating American Ben Shelton 7-6 (7-4) 5-7 6-3.
Frances Tiafoe lost to Alexander Bublik With 6-3 6-4 he achieved his first victory on the hard court in the Masters 1000 since Miami in 2022.
Roberto Bautista Agut recorded his first tour-level win since June, beating Czech Jiri Lehecka 6-4 6-2 to reach the second round.
Norrie withdraws from Metz
British number 1 Cameron Norrie, who withdrew from the Paris Masters this week due to a knee injury, has withdrawn from Metz next week and it appears he now faces a race against time to be fit for the Davis Cup next month’s final.
With Dan Evans already ruled out of the crucial quarter-final clash with Serbia in Malaga, captain Leon Smith is left with Andy Murray, Jack Draper and doubles specialist Neal Skupski as his only fully fit players against a side featuring world number 1 Novak Djokovic.