Murray’s Rome jinx continues

 

Originally published on: 26/02/10 12:26

Murray won the opening set but ended up losing 6-1 3-6 5-7.

Monaco, who had to qualify for this event, avenged a loss to Murray earlier this year when the two met on the hard courts of Miami. Murray has now played four times in Rome and has yet to advance beyond the second round.

Monaco will meet Croatia’s Mario Cilic next.

Murray conceded just one game in the opening set against the Argentinian he had beaten in earlier this year in Miami in their first-ever meeting.

The second set, however, was the Scot’s turn to struggle and he was broken in his very first service game to trail 2-0. A double-fault by Monaco allowed Murray to lead 15-40 in the third game, only for the South American to save both.

Unforced errors by the Brit allowed Monaco to take a 5-3 advantage. He then held serve to level the match and set up a deciding third set.

Murray led 5-4 in the final set, but the Argentinian held it together and won eight straight points to serve for the match.

He then raced into a 40-15 lead and after Murray saved one match point, the Brit found the net to crash out of the event.

Murray’s advisor, Alex Corretja, had predicted a long, hard match and it proved correct as the game lasted two hours and 40 minutes.

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