MADRID: Andy Murray hit error after error on Thursday and was eliminated from the Madrid Masters in the third round.
The Wimbledon champion lost to 46th-ranked Santiago Giraldo 6-3, 6-2. Murray’s play was erratic throughout the match against the Colombian qualifier, who earned his first career victory against a top-10 player in 20 attempts.
The eighth-ranked Murray mentioned his split from coach Ivan Lendl alongside his ”inconsistent” play.
”My coach is missing. That’s quite a big part of my team,” Murray said. ”I didn’t envision a finish like that. I need to sit down and think about that the next couple of days and see what I need to do.”
Defending champions Rafael Nadal and Serena Williams had little trouble reaching the quarterfinals at the clay-court tournament, both winning in straight sets.
Nadal had not lost a quarterfinal on clay in nine years until last month in Monte Carlo, and he repeated the disappointing feat in Barcelona.
On Thursday, Nadal let a 3-1 lead in the second set slip before beating Jarkko Nieminen of Finland 6-1, 6-4.
Nadal will next face sixth-seeded Tomas Berdych, who beat Grigor Dimitrov of Bulgaria 3-6, 6-3, 6-2.
Berdych has not beaten Nadal since a 2006 meeting in Madrid, which was marked by jeering and angry exchanges between the players.
Also, Japanese player Kei Nishikori improved to 8-0 on clay this season with a 7-6 (5), 7-6 (5) win over Milos Raonic of Canada.
Williams earned her 650th career victory with a 6-2, 6-3 win over Carla Suarez Navarro. Williams, in pursuit of her 60th title, hit 27 winners to her Spanish opponent’s five.
Williams will next face 2011 champion Petra Kvitova. The fifth-seeded Czech beat Lucie Safarova 6-4, 6-3.
Also, Australian Open champion Li Na and Maria Sharapova will meet in the quarterfinals after both won their third round matches.
After a poor opening set, the second-ranked Li overcame a slew of unforced errors and a bothersome toe problem to beat Sloane Stephens of the United States 2-6, 6-3, 6-2.
Sharapova beat Samantha Stosur of Australia 6-4, 6-3.
Meanwhile, Sania Mirza and Cara Black gave a scare to top seeds Su-Wei Hsieh and Shuai Peng before losing their women’s doubles quarterfinal 7-5, 1-6, 10-8.
Rohan Bopanna and his Pakistani partner Aisam-ul-haq Qureshi, seeded eighth, have been given a bye in the first round of the men’s doubles. (PTI)
