Madrid : World number one Andy Murray’s slump in form continued as he crashed out of the Madrid Masters third round 6-3, 6-3 to lucky loser Borna Coric.
Rafael Nadal extended his flawless record on clay this season to 12-0 with a 6-3, 6-1 destruction of Nick Kyrgios.
Coric was only handed a late reprieve to enter the draw in Madrid after losing in qualifying to Mikhail Kukushkin.
“After one match of the quallies where I lost and I was booking my flight back to home,” said Coric.
However, Murray cut a frustrated figure as he was swept aside by the 20-year-old Croatian for the second time in the pair’s four meetings.
– Kyrgios whistled –
Nadal had no such troubles as he dominated Kyrgios to beat the Australian in just over an hour.
“I played really well tonight. Right from the start I made very few errors,” said the Spaniard.
“To win 6-3, 6-1 against an opponent as good as Nick, isn’t normal.”
The 14-time Grand Slam champion had a slice of fortune as a let cord and a Kyrgios double fault handed him the two breaks he needed to take the first set.
However, Kyrgios showed little resistence after being broken once more in the first game of the second set as he was whistled from at the end by Spanish fans unhappy at only seeing Nadal on court for 73 minutes.
And he admitted to having a defeatist attitude from the start. “I wasn’t expecting to beat him at all tonight, to be honest,” said Kyrgios.
Nadal faces David Goffin in Friday’s quarter-finals after the Belgian beat world number six Milos Raonic 6-4, 6-2.
In the women’s Madrid Open, third seed Simona Halep remains on course to defend her title as she thrashed American Coco Vandeweghe 6-1, 6-1.
Halep faces Latvian Anastasija Sevastova in Friday’s semi-finals after the world number 22 saw off Kiki Bertens 6- 3, 6-3.
Svetlana Kuznetsova ended Eugenie Bouchard’s impressive run to the quarters in convincing fashion 6-4, 6-0. The Russian will meet Kristina Mladenovic in the last four as she beat Sorana Cristea 6-4, 6-4.
