Pospisil upsets world No. 1 Murray

INDIAN WELLS, CALIF. Andy Murray was stunned in his opening match at the BNP Paribas Open by a man ranked 128 places below him, losing 6-4, 7-6 (4) to Canadian Vasek Pospisil on Saturday night.

It was, without a doubt, the biggest singles victory of his career for Pospisil, who spun around and flung away his racket after smacking a forehand winner to convert his fourth match point. The Vancouver native’s best accomplishment in tennis to date was winning a Wimbledon doubles title with Jack Sock of the U.S. in 2014.

There was little reason to believe beforehand that Murray would have so much trouble Saturday. He is, after all, ranked No. 1, owns three grand slam singles titles and two Olympic singles golds, has about US$55 million more in career earnings than Pospisil and a 45-0 edge in singles trophies. Plus, Murray had won all four previous head-to-head matchups.

But Pospisil attacked second serves with great success this time and broke Murray four times — three in the opening set alone — while also keeping him off balance with strong net play.

The tone was established early on in the second-round match. Murray, who had a bye in the first round, broke Pospisil twice in the opening set, but gave that edge back each time.

Pospisil broke again to open the third, then held for 2-0 and had two break points to go up 3-0 after Murray double-faulted for the sixth time. But Murray held there, then broke back, and was steadier until the tiebreaker.

Yet another double-fault gave Pospisil a 3-1 lead, and he stretched that to 6-2, before relenting just a bit on the way to the upset.