MELBOURNE: Former world number one Andy Murray was bundled out of the first round of the Melbourne Summer Set tournament at the hands of unheralded Argentine Facundo Bagnis on Tuesday.
Bagnis did just enough to beat the 34-year-old Murray 6-3, 5-7, 6-3.
Murray, now ranked 134th following career-saving hip surgery in 2019, was last month granted a wildcard into the Australian Open, a tournament where he has been a finalist five times.
The three-time major champion would have been hoping to get valuable match practice in the Australian Open warm-up event this week ahead of the year’s first Slam beginning on January 17.
But Bagnis, a 31-year-old ranked 76th in the world, took advantage of Murray’s high unforced error count and poor second serve to claim the match in two hours, 26 minutes.
The tournament lost another drawcard Tuesday when local crowd favorite Nick Kyrgios pulled out with what organizers said was asthma.
