SHANGHAI: Three-time Grand Slam champion Andy Murray crashed out in the last 16 of the ATP Zhuhai Championships on Saturday to 63rd-ranked Russian Aslan Karatsev.

Former world number one Murray won the first set before Karatsev fought back to triumph 4-6, 6-3, 6-2.

The 36-year-old Murray, now 41 in the world, said on the eve of the tournament in southern China that he wanted to end an “up and down” year on a high.

But after beating China’s 668th-ranked Mo Yecong in his opener, Murray wilted in Zhuhai’s heat and humidity.

Also in China, at the ATP Chengdu Open, the 10th-ranked Alexander Zverev defeated 106th-ranked Pavel Kotov 7-6 (7/5), 4-6, 6-1.

The top-seeded German faces Miomir Kecmanovic, the seventh seed from Serbia, in the quarter-finals.