Andy Murray has been knocked out of the Indian Wells Masters after a shock third round defeat to Federico Delbonis.
The world number two was beaten 6-4 4-6 7-6 by his Argentine opponent, despite holding a 4-1 advantage during the final set.
The Brit has never enjoyed much success at the Indian Wells Tennis Garden, only making it beyond the semi-finals of the tournament once, when he was beaten in straight sets by Rafael Nadal in the 2009 final.
The 28-year-old admits he cannot quite put his finger on why he struggles to adapt to the conditions of the Californian event, and concedes that his performance against Delbonis was littered with mistakes.
He said: “I have never really felt that I played my best tennis here. I have tried and had many different preparations where I’ve got here early and spent a lot of time on the courts, and sometimes I arrive later, like this time from Davis Cup.
“You look in the tie-break I missed a couple of backhands long, and then also a couple of balls in the bottom of the net. It just never quite worked out for me here.”
Murray, who was playing in his first ATP Tour event since the birth of his first child, will now turn his attention to the Miami Open later this month, while Delbonis will take on number 13 seed Gael Monfils in the fourth round on Wednesday.
Delbonis is available at 4.75 to cause another shock while Frenchman Monfils is on offer at 1.17.
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