Andy Murray suffered a first-round exit on the Open Sud de France in Montpellier, however Katie Boulter received to succeed in the Linz Open second spherical.
Murray was overwhelmed 2-6, 7-6 (7-5), 6-3 by France’s Benoit Paire.
The 36-year-old, who was additionally overwhelmed within the first spherical on the Australian Open, has now received solely one among his final eight matches.
British primary Boulter cruised previous Italian sixth seed Jasmine Paolini in straight units in Austria.
Murray rediscovering his kind when he took the primary set in simply 38 minutes, however Paire hit again to take a a lot nearer set on a tie-break.
Paire then had the higher of the decider, ultimately taking it 6-3 regardless of Murray saving 4 match factors.
Three-time Grand Slam champion Murray has now misplaced all three of his matches in 2024 and slipped to forty ninth on the planet rankings.
The Scot has beforehand hinted he would take into consideration retiring if he didn’t get pleasure from taking part in this 12 months, having struggled for kind within the closing levels of the 2023 season.
In the meantime, Boulter wanted simply 76 minutes to wrap up a 6-2 6-2 victory in opposition to Paolini, saving all 5 break factors she confronted.
The 27-year-old will play Russian world quantity 42 Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova within the final 16 in Austria.
British quantity two Jodie Burrage certified for the principle draw with a win over Germany’s Anna-Lena Friedsam.
Burrage misplaced the primary set however recovered to safe a 5-7 6-3 6-2 win in two hours 27 minutes.
