Andy Murray’s US Open preparations hit another roadblock when he was beaten by France’s Lucas Pouille in the first round of the Cincinnati Open.
Pouille, the world No.17, proved to be the more resourceful in the 6-1 1-6 6-4 win to claim his first triumph in five attempts against the Scot.
After a lengthy layoff last year, Murray went under the knife in January but has had a frustrating time since his return to the ATP Tour in June.
He had hoped to build on the momentum after a run to the quarter-finals of the Citi Open before he pulled out of the Washington tournament citing fatigue.
“I only lost four more points in the match than him,” Murray, who has fallen at the first hurdle in two of the four tournaments he has contested this year, said.
“It was tight. He’s a top 20 player.
“If I can improve by 10, 15 per cent, you turn a lot of those matches around.”
Wimbledon champion Novak Djokovic, the 10th seed, defeated American Steve Johnson 6-4 7-6 (7-4) in a hard-fought match under the lights.
The 31-year-old Serb is a five-time runner-up in Cincinnati.
Wild card Stan Wawrinka dug deep and ultimately prevailed 6-2 4-6 6-3 against Argentine 12th seed Diego Schwartzman.
The Swiss progressed to a second-round clash with Japan’s Kei Nishikori, who overcame Andrey Rublev 7-5 6-3.
Australian No.1 Nick Kyrgios, last year’s tournament runner-up, is seeded 15th and will play qualifier Denis Kudla in his first-round match on Tuesday.
Kyrgios is the only Australian in the tournament after John Millman was forced to retire from his first-round qualifying match.
The ATP Masters 1000 tournament lost its top seed when world No.1 Rafael Nadal withdrew after winning the Canadian Open on Sunday, to take care of his body before the final grand slam of 2018.
It means World No.2 Roger Federer, who skipped the Toronto event, is now the highest seed in Cincinnati – a tournament he has won a record seven times.
Sam Querrey ground out a 6-4 6-7 (5-7) 7-6 (7-5) win over fellow American John Isner, sealing the victory with his 26th ace – 12 fewer than his opponent.
Querrey gained an edge with a mini-break on the fifth point of the second tiebreaker when ninth-seeded Isner sailed a forehand wide.
Spanish 13th seed Pablo Carreno Busta, Britain’s 14th seed Kyle Edmund and Canadian young gun Denis Shapovalov, Adrian Mannarino, Jeremy Chardy, Benoit Paire, Leonardo Mayer, Peter Gojowczyk and Bradley Klahn were the other first-round winners.