• Sony Ericsson Open

Murray stunned by Fish

Andy Murray struggled to settle into his game © Getty Images

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• Gallery: Miami tennis: Saturday

Saturday gallery

Defending champion Andy Murray crashed out of the Sony Ericsson Open in Miami, losing in straight sets to Mardy Fish.

Spurred on by a patriotic crowd at Crandon Park, Fish produced one of the best results of his career to knock out the world No. 3 6-4 6-4.

Murray took an early lead, breaking Fish to go 3-1 ahead, but spurred on by the crowd the American fought back to level. A wild forehand at 4-4 was the start of a poor game by Murray, who handed his opponent three break points. Although he fought back to deuce, he failed to take his chances and a disappointing forehand left Fish serving for the set.

Fish's momentum carried over into second set, as Murray struggled to find his rhythm. The world No. 101 took an early break, and followed it up by serving out to love. Although Murray produced moments of his best tennis, he could not find a way back into the match.

Fish kept his cool and served a spectacular ace to help him on his way to an impressive victory.

"It feels great," Fish told Sky Sports. "I had knee surgery and rededicated myself in late September and really put my body to work, sort of rediscovered my game and how much I want to be out here. You have to play relatively flawless tennis on your serves against Andy Murray - he's the best returner we have in my opinion. I had to strike pretty quickly and I was able to do that."

Murray will be replaced at No. 3 by Rafael Nadal when the world rankings are released on April 5, and the British No. 1 admitted he was far from his best.

"I just wasn't very good today and I'm going to need to get a lot better," he said. "You can kind of get away with playing badly. I don't really mind that but mentally the last few weeks I've been really poor and it's unacceptable."

Fish will now play Feliciano Lopez in the next round after the Spaniard's 7-6(2) 7-5 victory over Germany's Michael Berrer.

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