Murray grabs defeat from jaws of victory

Paul Newman
Friday 20 October 2006 00:02 BST
Comments

Your support helps us to tell the story

From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.

At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.

The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.

Your support makes all the difference.

Andy Murray's hopes of reaching the quarter-finals of the Madrid Masters ended in disappointment last night when he was beaten by one of his best friends on the men's tour.

Novak Djokovic, who is one week younger than Murray and ranked two places higher than him at No 17 in the world, won 1-6, 7-5, 6-3, having turned the match around after the 19-year-old Briton dominated the early stages. Murray was watched by David Beckham, who was visiting the Madrid Arena for the second night in succession and met the Scot in the players' lounge before his match.

Murray, who had beaten the world No 3 Ivan Ljubicic the previous day, won five games in a row from 1-1 to take the first set. Djokovic gradually worked his way back into contention in the second, although it was Murray who made the first break at 3-3.

Djokovic, however, broke back immediately and from that point Murray's game collapsed. The Scot served poorly, while Djokovic, who was the key player in Serbia and Montenegro's victory over Britain in the Davis Cup earlier this year, hit a series of thumping groundstroke winners.

Join our commenting forum

Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies

Comments

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged inPlease refresh your browser to be logged in