Madrid: World No.1 Andy Murray suffered a surprise straight-sets defeat against Croatian player Borna Coric in the Madrid Open third round match on Thursday.
The Briton was also thrashed 6-3, 6-1 by the Croatian in the Dubai Championships in 2015, and this time around he again performed poorly in the first set and after recovering in the second he then surrendered his serve in the seventh game, giving Coric three break points.
World No. 59 Coric, who won his first ATP title earlier this year in the Grand Prix Hassan II in Marrakech, took the second break point to serve out for the match, sending last year’s finalist and two-time Madrid winner Murray packing.
Meanwhile, World No. 2 Novak Djokovic reached the quarter-finals of the Madrid Open on Thursday with a straight set victory 6-4, 7-5 over Feliciano Lopez.
Djokovic, who won the tournament last year, had fewer problems against the 35-year-old Spaniard than in his three-set second round test with Nicolas Almagro a day earlier, taking the first set 6-4 before breaking in the 12th game of the second to avoid a tie-break.
Djokovic joins David Goffin in the quarter-finals after the Belgian beat Milos Raonic 6-4 6-2, along with Kei Nishikori, who saw off David Ferrer of Spain 6-4 6-3.
Rafael Nadal, the only remaining Spaniard in the tournament defeated Australian Nick Kyrgios 6-3 6-1 in 72 minutes in a match to move into the quarterfinals.
