Novak beat Murray at opening match in Japan

British top tennis player Andy Murray suffered a 6-3, 7-6 defeat to big-hitting Czech Jiri Novak in his opening match at the Japan Open on Wednesday.

The 19-year-old Scot, who received a first-round bye, clawed his way back into the second set from 4-1 down but managed to win just one point in a one-sided tiebreak as Novak closed in style.

It was the 10th time this year Murray has tripped up at the first hurdle and came on the heels of his first-round defeat by compatriot Tim Henman in Bangkok last week.

"Every single young player goes through a patch where he's not playing well," shrugged the fourth-seeded Murray, who was in the same half of the draw as world number one Roger Federer.

"You can't expect to get to the semi-finals every week --unless you're Roger Federer or Rafael Nadal. They are the only two who can do it. I wasn't looking that far ahead."

The fiery Scot also paid tribute to Henman and Novak following his two losses in Asia.

"It's not like I lost to bad players," said Murray. "Henman has been at the top of the game for a long time. Novak was number five in the world (in 2002).

"I did well to fight back into the match but unfortunately I couldn't quite turn it around."

Source: Xinhua