World number one Andy Murray crashed out of the Madrid Open in the third round on Thursday to 20-year-old Borna Coric in straight sets (6-3 6-3).
The Briton, who was thrashed 6-3 6-1 by the Croatian in the Dubai Championships in 2015, performed poorly in the first set and after recovering in the second he then surrendered his serve in the seventh game, giving Coric three break points.
World No. 59 Coric, who won his first ATP title earlier this year in the Grand Prix Hassan II in Marrakech, took the second break point to serve out for the match, sending last year’s finalist and two-time Madrid winner Murray packing.
“It feels great, I don’t know how I did it but I played perfect during the game and I’m very happy about it,” Coric told Television Espanola.
“I couldn’t imagine this when I woke up this morning, I always believed but I wasn’t sure how I was going to play, but in the end I played as I had dreamed.”
World No. 2 Novak Djokovic also reached the quarter-finals of the Madrid Open on Thursday with a straight set victory (6-4 7-5) over Feliciano Lopez.
Djokovic, who won the tournament last year, had fewer problems against the 35-year-old Spaniard than in his three-set second round test with Nicolas Almagro a day earlier, taking the first set 6-4 before breaking in the 12th game of the second to avoid a tie-break.
Rain in the Spanish capital meant the roof on the Manolo Santana court was closed for the game, slowing down Lopez’s powerful serve to the advantage of the Serb, who recently split from his long-term coach Marian Vajda.
Djokovic joins David Goffin in the quarter-finals after the Belgian beat Milos Raonic 6-4 6-2, along with Kei Nishikori, who saw off David Ferrer of Spain 6-4 6-3.
Crowd-favourite Rafael Nadal, the only remaining Spaniard in the tournament, plays Australian Nick Kyrgios later on Thursday.