A vintage Andy Murray fightback was in vain as the former Miami Open champion lost his third-round clash with Tomas Machac, despite also surviving an injury scare.
An engrossing three-set battle saw Machac emerge triumphant 5-7 7-5 7-6[5] in three hours and 28 minutes against Murray, whose race appeared to be run during the closing stages of the third set.
After breaking his Czech opponent at 5-3 down while Machac was serving for a place in round four - saving two match points in doing so - Murray levelled the decider at 5-5 but rolled his left ankle as he approached the net to meet a Machac backhand, which landed short in any case.
As the Miami crowd cheered for the two-time champion, he dropped his racquet and hobbled across to the side of the court with a pained expression on his face, before getting down on all fours and clutching his ligament.
A hush descended upon the arena as Murray gingerly made his way back to his chair, although the 36-year-old elected to fight on after receiving treatment from the physio and managed to force a tie-breaker, but his movement was visibly affected.
Despite starting the tie-breaker on a double fault, the physically superior Machac clawed his way back into the decider and made no mistake on his third match point with an exquisite backhand at the net, which only just cleared the tape.
From JOY to PAIN as Andy Murray rolls his ankle after making it 5-5 in the third set 😯 pic.twitter.com/HqX86e4Ghv
— Sky Sports Tennis (@SkySportsTennis) March 24, 2024
The 23-year-old - who has now beaten Murray twice this year following his straight-sets success in Marseille - will now meet Italy's Matteo Arnaldi for a place in the quarter-finals, and Murray was not the only Briton to suffer third-round heartache.
National number one Cameron Norrie could not overcome defending champion Daniil Medvedev, who strode to a 7-5 6-1 win over the 30th seed in one hour and 21 minutes for his third successive triumph over the former Wimbledon semi-finalist.
A disastrous start from Norrie saw Medvedev earn an immediate double break for a 3-0 lead, but the British number one refused to go down without a fight and impressively wiped out the Russian's lead to level at 5-5.
However, Norrie's hard work counted for nought thanks to a mistake-strewn 11th game - where Medvedev broke again courtesy of a double fault and two unforced errors from Norrie - and the second set began in identical fashion, with the defending champion breaking twice for a 3-0 advantage.
This time, however, there would be no courageous fightback from Norrie, who managed to post one love hold in the fifth game but lost serve again while trying to stay in the match to exit with a whimper.
Murray and Norrie's defeats means that an in-form Katie Boulter is Great Britain's last singles hope in Miami, and the women's 24th seed will face former world number one Victoria Azarenka in the fourth round on Monday.
Ben Knapton
