Andy Murray's run at the Swiss Indoors in Basel came to a premature end as the three-time Grand Slam champion was defeated by Argentina's Tomas Martin Etcheverry in a second-round thriller.
Despite taking the first set against the South American by virtue of a nail-biting tie-breaker, Murray soon ran out of steam as Etcheverry prevailed 6-7[5] 6-3 6-2 in just over three hours.
Fresh from a two-set success over Yannick Hanfmann in the opening round - which snapped his three-match losing streak - Murray went into the second-round affair aiming to replicate his success against Etcheverry from their first-ever ATP Tour clash at this year's Indian Wells Masters.
On that day, Murray lost a first-set tie-breaker before producing a quintessential comeback to prevail, and he would seemingly be made to do it the hard way this time around too, as he lost his serve in the opening game.
Etcheverry backed up that immediate break with a hold to love and fashioned an opportunity to break Murray for a second time, but the Briton saved that break point and came through a tricky service game before breaking back for 2-2.
Neither player managed to bring up another break point opportunity in a closely-contested first set, where Etcheverry would initially gain the upper hand by establishing a 4-2 lead, but the Argentine lost his way on serve at the vital moment.
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Murray won two receiving points on the bounce before converting his first set point, but while Etcheverry was down significantly on the winners count in the second set - 11 compared to 21 in the opener - missed opportunities from the Briton were costly.
Etcheverry took the second set by the scruff of the neck with a break to 30 for a 3-1 advantage, and across the Argentine's next two service games, he crucially beat away five break points for the former world number one.
Murray managed to save one set point on the Etcheverry serve before the South American got over the line, and the latter got off to a sublime start in the decider, quickly bringing up three break points on the world number 40's serve.
In typical Murray fashion, the Briton would save all three of them to force a deuce, but his reprieve was short-lived as Etcheverry converted his fourth break opportunity and kept his counterpart at bay remarkably well.
Murray would be forced to beat away another three break points in the seventh game, but Etcheverry's pressure eventually told as he earned the chance to serve for the match - one which he did not pass up.
The 24-year-old's reward could be a quarter-final showdown with top seed Holger Rune, who battles Etcheverry's compatriot Sebastian Baez in their last-16 clash on Thursday evening.
Ben Knapton
