Murray loses to Ferrer

Andy Murray lost in three sets to fifth seed David Ferrer at the SEAT Open in Barcelona.

The British number one, 18, lost 4-6 7-6 (7/4) 6-1 to the 24-year-old Spaniard having led 6-5 on his serve in the second set.

It is the second time in a week the Scot has lost after winning the first set following his defeat to Jean-Rene Lisnard at the Monte Carlo Master Series.

The pair exchanged breaks in the first two games but Murray was returning well and passed up a chance to break his opponent for a second time in the third.

Ferrer was winning less than half the points on his own serves and a lengthy seventh game saw Murray break the Spaniard again.

The British number one held his serve to win the first set 6-4.

Ferrer battled back, taking a 40-0 lead in Murray’s first service game of the second set and taking the first break point on offer to move 2-0 ahead.

However, his lead was cut when he was broken again by the Scot, who held serve to level at 2-2.

The next three games went with serve but Murray was under pressure again as Ferrer squandered four break points before taking the fifth to lead 5-3 with service to level the match.

Murray broke back but had to battle to hold his own serve as Ferrer allowed three break points to go by before the Scot secured the game to level at 5-5.

And Murray broke Ferrer for the fifth time and set up the chance to serve for the match.

However, the Spaniard took a 40-0 lead against the Murray and took the first break point on offer to send the second set into a tie-breaker which went Ferrer’s way.

And the match looked to be drifting away from the Scot when he was broken by the Spaniard in the third set, dropping 3-1 behind as Ferrer held serve.

He was broken again by the Spaniard and, although Murray took the next game to deuce, Ferrer moved into a 5-1 lead and met little resistance as the Scot all but capitulated in the final game.