ANDY MURRAY was sent spinning out of the China Open in straight sets yesterday by veteran Croat Ivan Ljubicic.
The British tennis No.1, in his first competitive outing since his disappointing US Open campaign last month, had reached the last eight without dropping a set in Beijing but 31-year-old Ljubicic powered to a 6-3 6-2 victory in just 67 minutes.
Ljubicic's win in the ATP 500 hardcourt event levels his head-to-head record against Murray to 3-3 and sets up a semi-final clash with Spain's David Ferrer.
Murray, however, now has some free time and can turn his attentions to the ATP 1000 Shanghai Masters which gets underway tomorrow.
The disappointed world No.4 felt his unseeded opponent played better on the day and admitted his own serve wasn't up to scratch.
Murray, 23, said: "I thought he played well. He served very well. I made quite a lot of mistakes today, so a combination of the two probably didn't help that much.
"If you play someone who serves well and you make a lot of mistakes on your own service game, it puts a little bit more pressure on you. That was probably it."
Problems Murray had already needed to save one break point in the fourth game before he was broken in the sixth - and the Scot saved a set point in his next service game as well with an ace.
Former world No.3 Ljubicic, who has won back-to-back matches only twice since he captured the ATP Masters 1000 event at Indian Wells in March, looks to be back in the form of his life.
Unlike Murray, the world No.17 was having no such problems on his serve and didn't have to face a single break point throughout the opening set which he clinched 6-3 with ace No.6. Murray's hopes of mounting a comeback suffered an immediate blow when he lost his serve again at the start of the second set, although the Scot did get to 0-30 on Ljubicic's serve in the sixth game.
But the Croat responded in stunning fashion with four aces in succession to get out of trouble and emphatically break Murray's spirit.
Second seed Murray was broken again in the next game and Ljubicic, who served 12 aces in total to Murray's four, kept calm to seal a comprehensive win.
No.8 seed Ferrer beat Swede Robin Soderling 6-2 6-4. In the other semi-final, top seed and defending champion Novak Djokovic will face American John Isner.
The Serbian beat France's Gilles Simon 6-3 6-2 while Isner stunned Russian Nikolay Davydenko 7-6(2) 6-4.
