US Open champ Andy Murray made a string of unforced errors as he was evicted out of the BNP Paribas Open quarter-finals by Argentina's Juan Martin Del Potro on Friday.
Even after the British world number three edged a close first set 7-5 on the tiebreak, he lost serve once in the second and three times in the third to make a quick exit from the ATP Masters 1000 tournament. Seventh-seeded Del Potro will next face world number one Novak Djokovic, who was hardly tested as he ousted Jo-Wilfried Tsonga 6-3 6-1 earlier on Friday to extend his unbeaten feat to 22 matches.
On a hot afternoon at Indian Wells, Murray saved two break points in the initial game of the match but there were no further chances for either player as a closely fought opening set went into a tiebreak. A huge forehand winner by the Scotsman secured him a 5-2 lead but he double-faulted and then netted a forehand, shouting at himself in disgust, as he let Del Potro pull back to 5-4. The Argentine then hit a backhand long for Murray to get his first set point at 6-4 and, though he squandered that with a lifeless backhand, he secured the set at the next opportunity on a backhand error by his rival. However, the Scot failed to take advantage and was broken to love in the second game of the second set after double-faulting.
Del Potro served out to level the match, claiming the set with a leaping overhead smash. Murray was again broken in the third game of the final set, after netting a forehand, and also in the fifth, after hitting a backhand long, to trail 1-4.
Perhaps, this was a poor show from a player of the caliber of Murray. Eager fans must have been disappointed in the way the Scot has played. There might be few more such matches with every player playing to the best in order to emerge victorious.
Unable to break the huge Argentine's serve, Murray's challenge faded easily and the match ended after two hours 31 minutes when the Scotsman double-faulted for an eighth time. It has to be remembered that Murray had lost against Djokovic in the Australian Open final as well. Perhaps, there year 2013 appears to be unlucky for the Scot with no sweet victories.
Top seed Djokovic delivered a splendid display against the eighth-seeded Frenchman Tsonga in the first match of the day, breaking his error-prone rival twice in each set and not dropping a single point on his own serve in the second set.
"I definitely feel very happy about this performance today," Djokovic mentioned courtside after improving his record for the season to 17-0. "I thought Jo didn't play his best. He made a lot of unforced errors and his serve wasn't going well and that made my life a lot easier on the court. "I really didn't care about how my opponent felt. I just tried to focus on the job I need to do, and my performance was really good."
