Andy Murray’s difficult start to the year continued with defeat in Marseille but Heather Watson earned one of the best wins of her recent career at the Abu Dhabi Open on Tuesday.
Murray lost 7-5 6-4 in another error-strewn showing against world number 66 Tomas Machac at the Open 13 Provence.
He has lost all four of his matches in 2024, including a first-round exit at last month’s Australian Open.
Meanwhile, Watson beat Russian ninth seed Veronika Kudermetova 6-3 7-5.
The convincing first-round win was Watson’s best in terms of ranking since 2017, with Kudermetova ranked 16th in the world – 140 places above the former British number one.
Last month Murray admitted he was in a “terrible moment” but said he “won’t quit” in response to an article which questioned when the Scot should retire.
Against Czech Machac, 23, he was broken in his second serve game and, having recovered to 5-5, gifted his opponent another break for 6-5 with a double fault and backhand error.
Murray lost his serve again early in the second and missed an opportunity to break back at 3-2 before Machac comfortably closed out one of the biggest wins of his career.
Elsewhere in Abu Dhabi, Naomi Osaka’s comeback was halted by another first-round defeat as she lost 7-5 6-0 to American Danielle Collins.