Murray’s winless on the clay after loss to Vavassori in Madrid

Italian qualifier Andrea Vavassori reached the second round of the Madrid Masters by beating Andy Murray 6-2, 7-6 (7) at the Caja Magica on Thursday evening.

Vavassori, ranked No 164, will play second seed Daniil Medvedev next.

Andy’s a hero to everybody on tour

Vavassori, 27, was making his Masters 1000 debut on Wednesday. He appreciated the fact that he was able to net his biggest career win against a legend who just so happens to be a former world No 1 and a three-time major champion.

“For sure it’s a dream come true to play in a tournament like this in a court like this against a true champion like him,” Vavassori said. “I follow him all my tennis career. He’s really a hero for all the players on the tour.”

Murray drops to 0-2 on the clay in 2023, and falls in the opening match at Madrid for the first time in his thirteen career appearances at Madrid. The Scot entered Wednesday’s match with a 29-9 record in Madrid, and two titles (2008, 2015) to his name.

Vavassori said that he started to feel the nerves in the second set, as Murray rallied from a break down to force a tiebreak.

“I played, I think, until the second half of the second set the best tennis of my life,” the Italian said. “Then the nerves come in a little bit – he was really good one game to break me – and at the end, just joy.”

Murray missed an easy volley that would have given him set point in the second-set tiebreak. It was the type of volley that could cause a rupture in the 35-year-old’s sleeping patterns.

Murray falls to 8-7 on the season – he has now lost four consecutive decisions dating back to Indian Wells.

Madrid Masters, other first-round results (Caja Magica, clay, EUR 7.705.780, most recent results first):

• Aslan Karatsev vs. Laslo Djere
• Mackenzie McDonald vs. Bernabe Zapata Miralles: thursday
• Jason Kubler vs. Dusan Lajovic: thursday
• Christopher O’Connell vs. Filip Krajinovic: thursday
• Marco Cecchinato (Q) beat Marton Fucsovics: 7-6 (4), 6-3
• Marcos Giron beat Nuno Borges: 6-2, 7-6 (7)
• Jan-Lennard Struff (LL) beat Lorenzo Sonego: 6-3, 6-1
• Pedro Cachin beat Abdullah Shelbayh (WC): 6-1, 6-4
• Cristian Garin beat Marc-Andrea Huesler: 7-6 (5), 6-2
• Yosuke Watanuki (Q) beat Corentin Moutet: 6-3, 6-3
• Zhizhen Zhang beat Jurij Rodionov (Q): 7-6 (6), 6-4
• Alexander Shevchenko (Q) beat J.J. Wolf: 6-4, 6-4
• Dominic Thiem (WC) beat Kyle Edmund: 6-4, 6-1
• Roman Safiullin (Q) beat Nicolas Jarry: 6-2, 3-6, 6-3
• Tomas Martin Etcheverry beat Adrian Mannarino: 6-4, 6-0
• Richard Gasquet beat Martin Landaluce (WC): 6-2, 6-1
• Thiago Monteiro beat Borna Gojo (Q): 7-6 (9), 4-6, 6-3
• Jaume Munar beat Thanasi Kokkinakis: 7-6 (7), 7-6 (3)
• Emil Ruusuvuori beat Ugo Humbert: 7-6 (6), 7-6 (4)
• Matteo Arnaldi (Q) beat Benoit Paire (Q): 6-1, 3-6, 7-6 (6)
• Oscar Otte beat Pavel Kotov (LL): 6-3, 4-6, 6-4
• Hugo Grenier (Q) beat Diego Schwartzman: 7-5, 6-4
• Stan Wawrinka beat Maxime Cressy: 6-7 (3), 6-3, 7-6 (4)
• Yannick Hanfmann (Q) beat Juan Pablo Varillas: 6-4, 3-6, 6-3
• Roberto Carballes Baena beat David Goffin: 6-4, 6-4
• Alexander Bublik beat Daniel Elahi Galan: 7-6 (15), 6-7 (4), 6-4
• Quentin Halys beat Alexei Popyrin: 4-6, 6-4, 6-4
• Alex Molcan beat Yibing Wu: 6-2, 6-4
• Albert Ramos-Vinolas beat Ilya Ivashka: 4-6, 7-6 (3), 6-2
• Hugo Gaston (WC) beat Jeremy Chardy: 6-3, 6-4
• Gregoire Barrere beat Emilio Nava (WC): 6-0, 5-7, 6-3