Shenzen: Somdev Devvarman put up a spirited fight but Andy Murray proved too good for the Indian, who bowed out of the ATP Shenzen Open with a straight-set defeat against World No. 11, here today.
Somdev fought his heart out against two-time Grand Slam winner but ended up with a 3-6 3-6 defeat in the second round, which lasted an hour and 21 minutes.
The first six games were tight and went with serve. In the seventh game, Somdev was down 0-40 facing three chances of service break.
The Indian saved the first two, second with an ace, but Murray latched on to the third, grabbing a slender 4-3 lead.
The Scott consolidated with an easy hold in the next and broke Somdev in the ninth to pocket the set in 37 minutes as the world number 11 reeled off three straight games.
Murray stepped on the gas in the second set, making Somdev struggle for points from the beginning. Somdev had a chance to hold in the second game but Murray did not let him and opened up a 2-0 lead by breaking the Indian at first available opportunity.
Somdev though broke back when Murray double faulted to hand the Indian three break chances. Somdev converted third chance to make it back on serve.
Somdev fought hard to hold serve and had the scores level in the second set. The Indian was doing everything to make it a contest.
After holding his own, Murray got the break back in the sixth game and dented the Indian's chance with another easy holding the seventh, shooting to a comfortable 5-2 lead.
Somdev had a break chance in that game but Murray thwarted the Indian. From there it was easy for Murray to move to the next round.
Rohan Bopanna and his Pakistani partner Aisam-ul-haq Qureshi lost their doubles quarterfinal early in the day.
The third seeds lost 4-6 6-7(4) to unseeded combo of Santiago Giraldo from Colombia and Michael Venus from New Zealand.
