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Murray stunned in Indian Wells

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World No 1 Andy Murray suffered a shock second-round defeat in the BNP Paribas Open against Canada’s Vasek Pospisil.

The Scot’s best showing in California came in 2009 as a runner-up to Rafael Nadal and this 6-4 7-6 loss was his first in five meetings against the world No 129.

Murray, who claimed his maiden title of 2017 at the Dubai Duty Free Championships last week, was sluggish from the start at Indian Wells.

The 29-year-old was broken four times in total by Pospisil, who celebrated his biggest win on the ATP Tour to secure a third-round clash against Dusan Lajovic.

Murray said: “It’s a disappointing one as I had opportunities in the first set but I didn’t serve well enough.

“I served a few double faults, especially in the first set at important moments, which didn’t help. I really don’t know why I haven’t played my best here over the years.

“He definitely played better in the second set, he was being aggressive and he played some great volleys at important moments. He deserved it.”

Pospisil said: “I felt like I had the ability but to actually go through is a whole new thing. I tried to bring different tactics … versus the other times I played him.

“I didn’t want to give him the same look each time. I wanted to put pressure coming into the net, using my strength, which is my ability at the net and serving well.”

Jo-Wilfried Tsonga was also dumped out by Fabio Fognini with the Italian winning 7-6 (7/4) 3-6 6-4 in a clash which lasted just shy of two-and-a-half hours.

After winning the first set on a tie-break, Fognini lost the second to seventh-seeded Tsonga but recovered well to win a nervy third.

Stan Wawrinka, seeded third, had an easier time of it by beating Paolo Lorenzi 6-3 6-4 and Gael Monfils also progressed with a 3-6 6-0 6-1 triumph over Barbados’ Darian King.

Serbian qualifier Dusan Lajovic was a surprise 6-2 4-6 7-6 winner against 30th seed Feliciano Lopez of Spain and Ivo Karlovic also suffered a second-round exit to Japan’s Yoshihito Nishioka, who triumphed 6-4 6-3.

Pablo Carreno Busta beat Peter Gojowczyk 7-5 6-2 while David Goffin, seeded 11th, was made to work for his 6-4 3-6 6-3 victory over Karen Khachanov.

Tomas Berdych is also safely through to round three after a 7-6 6-4 win against Bjorn Fratangelo while John Isner won two tie-breakers to triumph 7-6 7-6 over Mikhail Kukushkin.

There were also second-round wins for Mischa Zverev, Dominic Thiem, Roberto Bautista Agut, Albert Ramos-Vinolas and Pablo Cuevas while Philipp Kohlschreiber benefited from Alexandr Dolgopolov’s retirement.

For those on the move, we will have Indian Wells covered on Sky Sports News HQ and don’t forget that you can follow us via our website skysports.com/tennis, our app for mobile devices and iPad or our Twitter account @skysportstennis for news, reports, live blogs and expert analysis.

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