Andy Murray admitted it was disappointing to suffer a surprise third-round defeat to Ernests Gulbis in Rogers Cup but is hopeful that it won’t upset his US Open preparations too much.
The British number one is playing in his first tournament since his historic victory at Wimbledon and had enjoyed a good win in his opening match, defeating an in-form Marcel Granollers in straight sets.
However, it was Latvian Gulbis who dominated the third-round match, taking advantage of Murray’s second serve in particular to register his first victory over the Scot at the sixth time of asking, winning 6-4 6-3 in a shade under 90 minutes.
The world number two is still involved in the doubles – he and Colin Fleming beat Leander Paes and Radek Stepanek 6-3 6-3 in the second round – and he is hoping that his involvement could still help his preparations for the year’s final Grand Slam event at the end of this month.
“Obviously I’d have liked to have done better,” said Murray after his singles defeat. “The goal is to try and peak at the US Open.
“But to do that you need to make sure you prepare yourself well.
“There’s obviously some things for me to work on, but I think that will come with playing matches.”
Gulbis, who has so far risen 100 places up the rankings in 2013, will now take on Milos Raonic in the quarter-finals after the Canadian surprised Juan Martin del Potro 7-5 6-4.
Vasek Pospisil was another to give the home fans something to cheer about as he proved too strong for fifth seed Tomas Berdych, winning 7-5 2-6 7-6 (7-5) – giving Canada two men in the last eight for the first time in 24 years.
Two-time defending champion Novak Djokovic showed his resilience by coming from a set down to beat Denis Istomin 2-6 6-4 6-4, while fourth seed Rafael Nadal was given a tough workout by Jerzy Janowicz, edging the Wimbledon semi-finalist 7-6 (8-6) 6-4.
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