Andy Murray again failed to chalk up back to back wins as he lost to Kazakhstan’s Alexander Bublik in straight sets 6-7(9) 3-6 in the second round in Indian Wells.
The last time Murray put two wins together was back in January at the Sydney Classic.
Three-time Grand Slam winner Murray had also beaten World No. 33 Bublik in his two previous encounters, most recently in last month’s Rotterdam event
The 34 year old Brit earned a wildcard for the Masters event and won his 700th match on the ATP Tour in the first round here.
The first set went with serve but Murray squandered three break points when 2-1 up and another when 3-2 up.
The set went to a tiebreaker and Murray threw away three set points and the Kazakh held on to take the set in 71 minutes
On his Indian Wells main draw debut Bublik was too strong for a man 10 years his senior chalking up his first head to head over the Scot.
“For me, it’s great to have a win here,” Bublik said in his on-court interview. “It’s really tennis paradise. To beat Andy, finally – if he would be my age, it would have been a lot tougher.”
“Of course, if you win a breaker 11-9, it means a lot,” Bublik said. “It was a great battle.”
Last month Bublik won his first career title, the Open Sud de France in Montpellier beating World No. 3 Alexander Zverev in the final, lifting his ranking to a career high No. 30.
