Murray bows out as Nadal, Djokovic march on in Madrid
MADRID: World number one Andy Murray’s slump in form continued as he crashed out of the Madrid Masters third round 6- 3, 6- 3 to lucky loser Borna Coric on Thursday.
Rafael Nadal extended his flawless record on clay this season to 12- 0 with a 6- 3, 6-1 destruction of Nick Kyrgios.
And defending champion Novak Djokovic also eased into the quarter-finals with a 6- 4, 7- 5 win over Feliciano Lopez.
Coric was only handed a late reprieve to enter the draw in Madrid after losing in qualifying to Mikhail Kukushkin.
“After one match of the quallies where I lost and I was booking my flight back to home,” said Coric.
“I couldn’t imagine this when I woke up this morning, I always believed but I wasn’t sure how I was going to play.
“In the end I played as I had dreamed.”
However, Mur r ay cut a frustrated figure as he was swept aside by the 20-year- old Croatian for the second time in the pair’s four meetings.
“I didn’t help myself find a way into the match to start playing better,” said Murray.
“I definitely think I need to be concerned about today.
“It’s not always the worst thing losing a match, but it’s sometimes the manner of how you lose the match is what can be concerning or disappointing.”
Nadal, the 14-time Grand Slam champion, had no such troubles as he dominated Kyrgios to beat the Australian in just over an hour.
“I played really well tonight. Right from the start I made very few errors,” said the Spaniard.
“To win 6- 3, 6 - 1 against an opponent as good as Nick, isn’t normal.”
And Kyrgios admitted to having a defeatist attitude from the start.
“I wasn’t expecting to beat him at all tonight, to be honest,” said Kyrgios.
Nadal faces David Goffin in Friday’s quarter-finals after the Belgian beat world number six Milos Raonic 6- 4, 6-2.
After suffering his own struggles of late, Djokovic was encouraged by his display in seeing off Lopez and a partisan crowd to reach the last eight.
“If you’re playing against a Spanish player in Madrid, it’s obviously a different game, it’s a different feeling,” said Djokovic.
“They have a lot of support. You need to kind of hold your nerve, hold your concentration, and use all the necessary energy at the right moments.”
Djokovic faces a much tougher test on Friday against world number eight Kei Nishikori, who earlier swept aside David Ferrer 6- 4, 6- 3.
In the women’s Madrid Open, third seed Simona Halep remains on course to defend her title as she thrashed American Coco Vandeweghe 6-1, 6-1.
Halep faces Latvian Anastasija Sevastova in Friday’s semi-finals after the world number 22 saw off Kiki Bertens 6-3, 6-3. — AFP