‘I’ve gone away from my natural game’ - Murray
ANDY Murray has conceded he needs to return to playing his own game after he lost in straight sets in the first round of the bett1HULKS Indoors ATP event in Cologne.
The former world number one fell to veteran Spaniard Fernando Verdasco in Germany, which followed him tumbling out of the French Open with a straight-sets first-round loss as he battles back from hip surgery.
“I need to get back to playing my game on the court, I’ve kind of gone away from that a little bit,” he said.
“I’m maybe making a few more mistakes than usual because of that.”
The 33-year-old was handed a wildcard in Cologne, where he showed plenty of his competitive determination with a number of crucial breaks against Verdasco.
The former world number seven, however, proved too strong and eventually progressed 6-4 6-4 after one hour and 40 minutes.
The Scot admitted there were “a lot of things” he would need to improve.
“I need to practise, I need to play matches and physically I need to get better,” he said.
“Some things I did a little bit better but overall it was not that much better than that match (against Stan Wawrinka in Paris).
“It’s a surface that I’m a little bit more comfortable on, so that probably helped me. But in terms of my game, it was not much better.”
Murray vowed to have “a long, hard think” after suffering the joint worst grand slam defeat of his career to Wawrinka in the first round at Roland Garros, where he won just six games.
He reached the second round of the US Open in September but remains outside the world’s top 100.
British number two Kyle Edmund was beaten 7-5 7-6 (1) by South African qualifier Lloyd Harris in the first round of the bett1HULKS Indoors ATP event in Cologne.
Both players lost their opening service games before Harris, ranked 92 in the world, moved 4-2 ahead and then was up 5-3. Edmund rallied to break back and level at 5-5. However, the 25-year-old Briton then lost his own serve again to hand the advantage back to Harris, who finally wrapped up the first set after an hour and five minutes. The second set went with serve and on through to a tie-break. Harris swiftly put himself in control with a mini-break and two holds before Edmund lost his serve again. The South African, 23, soon set up a match-point chance at 6-1, which he claimed.
Cameron Norrie claimed his 50th ATP Tour victory and reached the last eight of the St Petersburg Open by beating Miomir Kecmanovic in three sets. The British number four won 7-5 6-7 (5) 6-3 against the 21-year-old Serbian, who is 34 places higher than Norrie in the rankings.
In the quarter-finals, the 25-yearold could face third seed Andrey Rublev. Norrie is the only Briton left in the tournament - Dan Evans lost to Stan Wawrinka in the round of 16.