• Dubai Tennis Championships

Undercooked Murray loses to teenager in Dubai

ESPN staff
February 26, 2015
Andy Murray struggled on Centre Court in Dubai © Getty Images
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An out-of-sorts Andy Murray lost in straight sets to Croatian teenager Borna Coric to crash out of the Dubai Tennis Championships on Thursday.

Murray thrashed Coric in a Davis Cup singles tie in September 2013 in their only other previous meeting, but was second best throughout Thursday's quarter-final encounter as the 18-year-old Coric won 6-1 6-3 in one hour and 19 minutes.

"I would definitely say I was a little bit sluggish at the beginning of the match, but in the second set I definitely started to move a bit better and play a little bit better," said Murray, who hit 55 unforced errors. "But yeah, I started the match not good.

"He didn't make many errors. He played very solid and he moved well. I made way too many mistakes from the beginning of the match right through to the end."

Coric's reward for claiming the world No.3's scalp is a semi-final against Roger Federer, who progressed after Richard Gasquet retired having lost the first set of their match 6-1.

Meanwhile, world No.1 Novak Djokovic needed just 49 minutes to wrap up a 6-1 6-1 win over qualifier Marsel Ilhan.

Djokovic's last-four opponent, Tomas Berdych, had to battle past a dogged Sergiy Stakhovsky, eventually winning through 6-3 4-6 6-2 after one hour 40 minutes on court.

© ESPN Sports Media Ltd
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