Murray makes early exit again

Andy Murray's backhand caused his defeat at Indian Wells by Guillermo Garcia-Lopez (Getty Images)

Andy Murray blamed his backhand after he was beaten 6-4, 6-2 at Indian Wells by 92nd-ranked Spaniard Guillermo Garcia-Lopez. It is the second year in a row the Briton has been eliminated in his opening match at the tournament.

"My return let me down and he hardly missed the ball," said Murray, who was runner-up at Indian Wells in 2009, after being broken once in the opening set and twice in the second. "I hit my backhand poorly tonight, no question. With the level of tennis nowadays you get no easy first-round matches and you play a poor match, that's what happens."

The world No 1 Novak Djokovic eased into the third round on Saturday after he handed out a 6-3 6-2 thrashing to Kazakhstan qualifier Andrey Golubev, breaking his opponent's serve twice in each set.