Andy Murray’s bid for a 700th career win fell short as he suffered a straight-sets second-round defeat again Italian youngster Jannik Sinner at the Dubai Tennis Championships.
The 34-year-old, who won the tournament in 2017, battled hard in the first set but was outplayed in the second, losing 7-5 6-2 to one of the rising stars of the men’s game.
The first set stayed on serve until Sinner struck at the perfect time, breaking Murray to love to lead 6-5.
Murray got to 30-30 in the 12th game, but a mighty Sinner first serve and a stunning forehand winner later and the set had slipped away.
Sinner, already ranked tenth in the world at the age of 20, broke again with ease at the start of the second and Murray had to save two break points just to get on the board at 1-2.
However, with Sinner coming forward aggressively and putting Murray away at every opportunity, the 34-year-old won just one more game to bow out.
Once again the Brit has been unable to get past the second round of a tournament, after also being knocked out at that stage of the Australian Open, Rotterdam Open and Qatar Open this year.
Murray got win number 699 after coming from a set down to beat Christopher O’Connell in the previous round in Dubai, yet blamed a lack of mental toughness for falling short of his latest milestone on this occasion.
He said in his post-match press conference: “Obviously it’s something I want to achieve.
“Unless something went horribly wrong in the next six, eight months, I will get to that number. But, yeah, there’s no excuse for some of the performances I’ve had recently in terms of how I’ve been playing.
“I need time on the practice court. I need consistency in terms of the things that I’m working on, consistent messages.
“Yeah, I mentally need to be a lot tougher than what I have been in some of my matches recently.”
Murray also confirmed he would announce a short-term coach to take him through to the grass season in the coming days.
Additional reporting by PA Sport.
