British top seed Andy Murray suffered a stunning defeat in his first hardcourt warm-up match for the US Open, losing Wednesday to Teymuraz Gabashvili at the ATP and WTA Washington Open.
The 53rd-ranked Russian outlasted third-ranked Murray 6-4, 4-6, 7-6 (7/4) over two hours and 41 minutes to reach the third round at the ATP and WTA Washington Open.
Gabashvili, who was 3-22 against top-10 foes before the match, hit 30 winners and only made 15 unforced errors in making Murray the highest-ranked victim of his career, advancing to face the winner of a later match between Uruguay’s Pablo Cuevas and Lithuania’s Ricardas Berankis.
#Gabashvili halts Andy #Murray‘s @CitiOpen bid, beating the top seed 6-4, 4-6, 7-6(4). Read: http://t.co/zr0gvY1kwY pic.twitter.com/oilLWqwajt
— ATP World Tour (@ATPWorldTour) August 6, 2015
It was a shocking defeat for the 28-year-old Scotsman, who sparked Britain’s Davis Cup team past France in July after a semi-final run at Wimbledon. Murray, the 2012 US Open and 2013 Wimbledon champion, was playing in the US capital for the first time since losing the 2006 final to France’s Arnaud Clement.
Gabashvili, who lost to Murray last year at Shanghai in their only prior meeting, broke the Briton with a backhand winner to take the first set after 45 minutes.
The 30-year-old Russian denied him on a break chance with a service winner and held to 2-2.
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Murray made the most of his next break chance in the seventh game, his running forehand lob setting up a Gabashvili forehand overhead smash that the Russian swatted wide to surrender a 4-3 edge.
Murray netted a forehand to give Gabashvili a break chance in the 10th game but the Russian sent a forehand volley long and two points later hit a backhand wide to hand the Scotsman the second set.
Murray broke Gabashvili at love in the ninth game of the third set and was two points from victory before surrendering a service break, a wide crosscourt backhand pulling the Russian level at 5-5.
After Murray hit a forehand winner for a 4-3 lead in the tie-breaker, Gabashvili won the final four points, the last on a backhand winner with a celebration fist pump seconds later.
