Andy Murray was dumped out of the ATP event in Montpellier on Tuesday after suffering a straight-sets defeat in the opening round against Belarusian Egor Gerasimov.
The former world number one squandered a set point in the opening set before losing 7-6 (10/8), 6-1 to the 83rd-ranked Gerasimov.
Murray, who missed the Australian Open after testing positive for Covid-19, was playing his first ATP Tour event since last October.
The 33-year-old Briton lost in the final of a second-tier Challenger tournament in Italy to Illya Marchenko earlier this month.
Murray fell a break behind in the seventh game against Gerasimov on Tuesday but fought back to force a tie-break.
He missed one opportunity to take the set in the breaker, but his opponent clinched it on his fourth set point.
It was all one-way traffic in the second set, though, as Murray had to save a match point to avoid being on the wrong end of a bagel.
The three-time Grand Slam champion is currently 121st in the world rankings, having been beset by hip and groin injuries.
(Published 24 February 2021, 02:30 IST)
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