Andy Murray Crashes Out at Indian Wells

Indian Wells has not been the happiest of hunting grounds for Andy Murray and it was a familiar story as he suffered another early exit, this time crashing out in the third round to Federico Delbonis.

The Argentine world No.53 overcame his nerves to score the biggest victory of his career, beating Murray 6-4, 4-6, 7-6(3) in two hours and 46 minutes.

Murray, playing in his first singles tournament since losing the Australian Open final, struggled in the windy conditions and lost the opening set to the left-hander, but recovered to take the second set and looked to be on his way to a place in the last 16 at 4-1 up in the third.

Two late challenges from Delbonis irked the world No.2, the second of which led Murray to having an angry exchange with the chair umpire during the changeover after holding to go 5-4 up in the decider.

Murray looked to be losing his cool and was forced to change his racket after breaking a string while defending the second of three break points on his next service game.

Delbonis took the third to serve for the match, where his nerves got the better of him. He double faulted to go 15-30 down with Murray eventually forcing the tie-break.

But again Murray threw away an advantage, letting a mini-break at the start slip as he imploded to lose the tie-break and the match.