Andy Murray thrashed by Roberto Bautista Agut in Doha – ‘A chastening defeat!’ | Tennis | Sport

Former world number one Murray, 34, was beaten 6-0, 6-1 by the Spaniard, who won the tournament in 2019. A news report in The Telegraph claimed that the defeat resulted in the “worst scoreline of his professional career”.

The publication’s tennis correspondent, Simon Briggs, wrote: “Andy Murray may be moving up in the world rankings, but on Wednesday in Doha he suffered a chastening defeat that saw him win only one game – thus equalling the worst scoreline of his professional career”.

Murray had gone into the tournament looking to win his first singles title since 2019 and had made a strong start with a straight-set win against Japan’s Taro Daniel.

But he was well beaten by the 2019 champion, Bautista Agut, who will play his compatriot Davidovich Fokina in the last eight.

According to the reports, the last time Andy Murray faced Roberto Bautista Agut, the world No16 from Spain, it was expected to be his retirement match.

The match took place in Australia in 2019, after Murray had told a press conference that he thought his career might effectively be over.

Despite returning to the tour with a metal hip seven months later, Murray is still struggling to compete consistently with the best players, as Wednesday’s 6-0, 6-1 defeat underlined.

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Against players ranked between No 21 and No 150, he has a success rate of 72.4 percent. But against those in the top 20, it drops to 21.4 percent.

Murray had gained revenge against his Australian Open conqueror, Taro Daniel, the world No 110 from Japan, with a comfortable 6-2, 6-2 win on Tuesday, but did not come close to gaining a foothold when he returned to the court to face Bautista Agut 24 hours later.