British Tennis star Andy Murray follows Emma Raducanu as former crashout of Miami Open in first Round

On March 22, Serbia’s Dusan Lajovic defeated Andy Murray in straight sets, 4-6, 5-7, in the men’s singles competition opening round at the Miami Open. In the first round of the women’s singles competition, former US Open champions Sloane Stephens, and Emma Raducanu were eliminated.

Murray’s early departure follows a few strong runs in the 2023 season. The British player, who is determined to battle despite having a metal hip and dealing with several injuries, advanced to the third round at the Australian Open, the Doha final, and the third round of the Indian Wells Masters last week.

‘The game was a bit of a problem today’ –  Andy Murray 

However, his performance against Lajovic in the opening round of the second Sunshine tournament was dismal.

“I served pretty well, but the rest of the game was a bit of a problem today,” the 35-year-old Murray said. “Made a number of errors that obviously I wouldn’t expect to be making. I didn’t really feel like I moved particularly well, which is really important for me.” The 32-year-old Serbian Lajovic will compete against first-round bye Maxime Cressy.

Meanwhile, Raducanu was defeated by Bianca Andreescu 6-3, 3-6, 6-2 in the opening round. Raducanu has trouble staying consistent despite winning the US Open as a teenager. Andreescu improved to 2-0 all-time against Flushing Meadows victor Raducanu.

“Miami has a special place in my heart,” Andreescu said. “I’ve been coming here since I was, I think, 12 years old, whether it’s for vacation or training or, yeah, Orange Bowl. I love that tournament very much. Yeah, coming back here, I think it’s just good vibes overall.” The 10th seed Maria Sakkari, who had a bye in the first round, will present Andreescu with yet another challenging challenge in the second round.

Iga Swiatek, the top-ranked woman in the world in singles, withdrew from the high-profile competition due to a rib injury. “I wanted to wait ’til the last minute” to decide whether to play in Miami. We were kind of checking if this is the kind of injury you can still play with or this is kind when you can get things worse. So I think the smart move for me is to pull out of this tournament because I want to rest and take care of it properly,” Swiatek stated at a press conference.