US Open champion Andy Murray made a slew of unforced errors as he was knocked out of the BNP Paribas Open quarter-finals by Argentina's Juan Martin Del Potro on Friday. Though the British world number three edged a close first set 7-5 on the tiebreak, he lost serve once in the second and three times in the third to make a premature exit from the ATP Masters 1000 event.
Seventh-seeded Del Potro will next face world number one Novak Djokovic, who was barely tested as he demolished Jo-Wilfried Tsonga 6-3 6-1 earlier on Friday to extend his unbeaten run to 22 matches. On a sweltering afternoon at Indian Wells, Murray saved two break points in the first game of the match but there were no further opportunities for either player as a closely contested opening set went into a tiebreak.
A big forehand winner by the Scotsman earned him a 5-2 lead but he double-faulted and then netted a forehand, screaming to himself in disgust, as he let Del Potro pull back to 5-4. The Argentine then hit a backhand long for Murray to earn his first set point at 6-4 and, though he squandered that with a wayward backhand, he clinched the set at the next opportunity on a backhand error by his opponent. However, the Scot failed to take advantage and was broken to love in the second game of the second set after double-faulting. Del Potro served out to level the match, clinching the set with a leaping overhead smash.