Teymuraz Gabashvili dumps Murray out of Washington Open

Andy Murray admits there is plenty of room for improvement after suffering a shock defeat to Teymuraz Gabashvili in the second round of the Citi Open in Washington.

But after a bye into the second round the 28-year-old top seed lost 6-4 4-6 7-6 (7-4) to 30-year-old Gabashvili, ranked number 53 in the world.

“It’s obviously a disappointing match to lose”, Murray said, “but it’s not like I got blown off the court”.

Murray had his chances against Gabashvili, who was limping between points on a bad left leg. Murray broke for a 5-4 lead in the third set and served for the victory.

Meanwhile, Sam Groth and unseeded American Steve Johnson advanced to the third round after their easy wins over Lleyton Hewitt (Australia) and Bernard Tomic (Germany) respectively.

British top seed Andy Murray suffered a stunning defeat in his first hardcourt warm-up match for the US Open, losing Wednesday to Teymuraz Gabashvili at the ATP and WTA Washington Open.

“When you win 7-6 in the third against Andy Murray, it’s something special”, said Gabashvili, who had won only three of 25 previous matches against top-10 opponents and called Wednesday’s victory the “100 percent” most important of his career.

Gabashvili reached the third round of the US Open a year ago and his liking for the hard courts of North America was evident in the first set when he took the contest to Murray and broke the Scot twice to claim the opener. “There are some things I felt I could improve”. The past three years I’ve become more confident in my play.

“When I’m playing players that are significantly shorter than me, like my opponent out there tonight, it helps”, Isner said.

Gabashvili, who lost to Murray last year at Shanghai in their only prior meeting, broke the Briton with a backhand victor to take the first set after 45 minutes.

Attempting to make the transition from grass to hard courts, the top seed appeared to shake off the rust in the second set to level the match but was unable to seal the deal when he was broken as he served for the contest at 5-4 in the decider.

He will now play Masters events in Montreal and then Cincinnati in the next two weeks in preparation for Flushing Meadows.

French fifth seed Alize Cornet was upset 7-5, 4-6, 7-6 (7/4) by 19-year-old wildcard Louisa Chirico.