A familiar pattern has developed for Andy Murray over the last couple of years and continued as he was beaten in his first tournament in China.
After a promising start in the Zhuhai Championships, the former world No 1 blew an early lead as he crashed to defeat against Aslan Karatsev in the last 16.
Murray won the first set against his world No 63 opponent but Karatsev fought back to punish the Scot’s inconsistent serve and win 4-6 6-3 6-2.
It was the first meeting between Murray and the Russian since they faced each other in last year’s final of the Sydney Tennis Classic, which Karatsev won in straight sets.
But Murray put himself in a strong position to exact revenge after saving four early break points and going on to fashion two breaks and take the opener.
Murray had jetted to China on the back of helping Great Britain into the Davis Cup quarter-finals and beat wild card Ye Cong Mo in the opening round on Thursday.
And fatigue possibly began to take its toll as Karatsev put himself in a dominant position in the second set, going 4-1 up. Despite a mini Murray revival, he held on to level the match.
Karatsev stepped up a gear in the decider, reeling off two consecutive breaks to take a 4-0 advantage which Murray never looked likely to recover.
The defeat was a familar story for Murray, who has struggled to string wins together in a season that has been stuck in neutral over the last few months.
He won back-to-back grass court events at Surbiton and Nottingham in June, but those two tournaments were at ATP Challenger level.
When he has tried to step it up against better quality opposition, Murray has come up short more often than not and the same story played out against Karatsev.
Murray’s eagerness to continue his career is commendable as he continues to struggle to pick up wins and lift his ranking into the top 30, with his recent comments suggesting he is beginning to question how long he can continue trying to beat the odds and return to the top of the game at the age of 36.
He has not made it past the third round of a Grand Slam event since 2017 and admitted at the US Open last month that he is now doubting whether he can revive his career.
“It’s obviously disappointing to not play how you would like,” said Murray
“Maybe I need to accept that, these events, I had the deep runs and everything that I felt like I’m capable of, they might not be there, as well.
“I’m aware what I’m doing, it’s unbelievably challenging to play at the highest level as I am now. And some days it’s harder than others.
“Ultimately these (Grand Slams) are the events that you want to play your best tennis in and create more great moments, and I didn’t do that this year.
“I still enjoy everything that goes into playing at a high level. I enjoy the work. The training and trying to improve and trying to get better, I do still enjoy that and that’s what keeps me going.
“If things change and I stop enjoying that or my results, my ranking and everything, if I start to go backwards in that respect, in a few months’ time I was ranked 60 in the world or whatever instead of moving up the way, things might change.”