He again showed glimpses of his once-dominant self, but was inconsistent in a 7-6 (10-8), 7-5 loss to 73rd-ranked American Tennys Sandgren in a match lasting 2 hours and 10 minutes. "Some things were a bit better today I think," Murray said. "I was hitting the ball a bit cleaner than I did maybe in Cincinnati... I feel like I moved fairly well to some drop shots, which maybe last week I wasn't running to.
"So there's some good things in there but also some stuff I would like to do better." Murray did not even reach the court until after 10 pm, thanks to a lengthy rain delay that pushed back his start time by more than three hours.
Sandgren gutted out a tough service hold in an opening game that went to deuce nine times, saving one break point as they went to the first-set decider without a break of serve. The American needed four set points - and saved one - in taking the tiebreaker.
A deflated Murray was quickly down 3-0 with two breaks of serve in the second.
He clawed one back, and broke again when Sandgren coughed up two double faults while serving for the match at 5-4. But Sandgren broke Murray again in the next game and then took full advantage of his second chance, capping the match with a forehand winner on his first match point. "Physically, (I'm) OK considering - no pain, no discomfort. Just a little bit more tired than usual," Murray said.