Andy Murray has suffered a first round defeat at the Madrid Open.
The 35-year-old former Wimbledon champion lost in straight sets to Italian Andrea Vavassori on Thursday.
Vavassori took the first set 6-2 with a convincing performance.
Murray made a bit more of a fight in the second set but again fell to defeat despite winning five of the first nine games.
The second set of the two-set match went to a tie-breaker after ending in a 6-6 draw.
The 164 ranked Italian had three match points in the tie-breaker to secure victory but squandered all three as Murray fought back to make it 6-6.
Vivassori won the eleventh game after a horrendous error from Murray to make it 7-6 and gain another match point.
Murray valiantly kept going and took it to 7-7 before falling to a 9-7 defeat in the tie-breaker and 2-0 in sets.
The loss marks Murray’s third first round defeat in a row following exits at the same stage in Miami and Monte Carlo.
The Scot could return to Wimbledon, where he was victorious in 2013 and 2016, this summer.
Follow STV News on WhatsApp
Scan the QR code on your mobile device for all the latest news from around the country
