Late night takes its toll as Andy Murray crashes out in Paris

Published on Thursday 12 November 2009 21:48

ANDY Murray showed the after effects of a late night as he was dumped out of the Paris Masters following a 1-6, 6-3, 6-4 third-round defeat by Radek Stepanek.

After finishing off his second-round match with James Blake shortly before 2am yesterday morning, the 22-year-old Scot returned to the court 14 hours later to face Stepanek, an opponent he had beaten on each of their three previous meetings.

Fourth-seed Murray raced through the opening set, but Stepanek found his rhythm with his serve and the Scot could not summon the energy for a fightback as he joined world No1 Roger Federer and Marat Safin in making an early exit from the tournament.

Murray converted the break at the third attempt in the second game of the opening set and went 5-0 up, before Stepanek held serve for the first time in three attempts. The Czech, though, was soon a set down after 20 minutes as Murray served out.

Murray conceded a break point in the second game of the second set and Stepanek took his chance before holding serve for the second time in the set to go 3-0 up. Murray recovered his composure, but Stepanek's serve was beginning to fire as he took a 5-3 lead before holding serve to level the contest. It was the first time he had taken a set off the Scot in three meetings.

Stepanek opened the third set with a break of serve and a Murray double fault in the seventh game gave his opponent a double-break advantage and the chance to serve out the match. But Murray broke back to delay the final verdict and then made Stepanek serve again.

Murray saved the first of three match points before Stepanek sealed his quarter-final place with a first victory over the Scot.

Meanwhile, Rafael Nadal survived another major scare before edging past Tommy Robredo to reach the quarter-finals.

Robredo served for the match at 5-4 in the final set but was unable to close out a famous win against his fellow Spaniard.

Nadal made the most of his reprieve to seal a 6-3, 3-6, 7-5 victory. The world No 2 will face France's Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in the last eight after his 6-2 6-3 demolition of compatriot Gilles Simon.

Nikolay Davydenko secured his place at the Barclays ATP World Tour Finals despite defeat by Robin Soderling, who kept alive his own chances of qualifying for the London event. Davydenko's 6-3, 3-6, 6-4 defeat by the Swede in the third round looked like condemning him to an anxious wait until Fernando Verdasco lost to Marin Cilic and put the Russian through. Soderling will face Novak Djokovic next.

&#149 Yanina Wickmayer insists she has been treated unfairly after being banned for a year under anti-doping rules. The 20-year-old, ranked 16th in the world, received the suspension after failing three times to report her whereabouts for drug testing.

She claimed the fact correspondence was sent to her house when she was abroad contributed to her falling foul of the system.

"It is inhumane and unsporting," said Wickmayer. "Athletes are not robots, but people."