Andy Murray suffers blow in French Open preparation with heavy Stan Wawrinka defeat
The three-time grand slam champions faced off against each other in France
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Your support makes all the difference.Andy Murray slumped to a 6-3 6-0 defeat against Stan Wawrinka in the second round of the ATP Challenger Tour event in Bordeaux.
Murray’s poor run on clay-court Masters 1000 events had continued when he was knocked out of the Italian Open in the first round by Fabio Fognini.
The Scot, though, had enjoyed success earlier this month at a second-tier tournament in Aix-en-Provence, where he won his first title since 2019.
Murray, who turned 36 on Monday, was seeded second and received a first-round bye, but found himself in a stacked bottom half in the Bordeaux draw which also included fellow three-time grand slam champion Wawrinka.
The veteran Swiss, who won the 2015 French Open, forced a break in the fourth game before holding to lead 4-1.
Although Murray saved several set points on his next serve, Wawrinka soon closed out the set.
Murray’s serve faltered again at the start of the second set, with Wawrinka twice breaking to lead 3-0.
Wawrinka, 38, maintained the pressure to break Murray again in the fifth game.
Although Murray forced a break point chance of his own in the next, he was then again frustrated by a line call as Wawrinka recovered to serve out for the match and complete what was a straightforward victory in one hour and 17 minutes.
Murray – who has only played at Roland Garros once since 2017 – is expected to soon decide whether to compete on clay in Paris, potentially for the last time, or begin his preparations early for the grass-court season as he looks towards Wimbledon.
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