Andy Murray suffered another defeat to Fernando Verdasco as he went out of the Shenzhen Open at the quarter-final stage on Friday.
Murray was defeated 6-4 6-4 by the Spaniard, with whom he had clashed after crashing out of the US Open last month over an alleged coaching infringement.
Friday's action was more straightforward as the experienced Verdasco broke Murray twice in the first set and once more in the second to wrap up victory in one hour and 40 minutes.
Tough day for the Brits in Shenzhen as Andy #Murray and Cam #Norrie fall in the last-eight. A great fight from both players though! #BackTheBrits 🎾🇬🇧👍 pic.twitter.com/tI1Xx8eCaJ — British Tennis (@BritishTennis) September 28, 2018
Nevertheless Murray will leave Shenzhen relatively pleased with his week's work having beaten top seed David Goffin in arguably his most notable scalp since his return from a hip injury.
The Scot is scheduled to head to the China Open which begins next week before curtailing his programme for the season in order to fully focus on overcoming his injury.
Earlier fellow Briton Cameron Norrie also fell at the quarter-final stage as he was beaten 7-6 (2) 6-2 by Japanese qualifier Yoshihito Nishioka.
It was a disappointing end to a successful week for Norrie, who had eclipsed top 10-ranked Borna Coric in the previous round.
But the current world number 73 fell away in the second set to fall to an opponent ranked almost 100 places beneath him in the rankings.
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