By Erik Gudris | Thursday, June 12, 2014

 

Defending champion Andy Murray saw his 19-match win streak on grass come to an end at the hands of veteran Radek Stepanek.

Photo Credit: AP

Andy Murray picked a bad time to have an off day at Aegon Championships in London.

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The Queen's Club defending champion found himself exiting the event earlier than local fans would have liked on Thursday. That was due in large part to the wily play of Czech veteran Radek Stepanek.

With both men playing a close opening set in their second round match, a tiebreak was soon needed. Murray, who soon found himself up 6-2, looked in control of proceedings. But tentative, edgy play from the UK No. 1 allowed Stepanek to even things up for 6-all.

Stepanek, saving eight set points against him in total, soon closed out the set 7-6(10).

With Murray unable to bounce back from his first set disappointment, he soon offered up an early break of serve. Stepanek would earn a double break for 5-2 thanks to a fortunate net cord winner several games later. Stepanek, who played smart tennis from the baseline and up at net, served out the 7-6(10), 6-2 upset victory.

As a result, Murray's 19-win match streak on grass comes to an end. His last loss on the surface was during the 2012 Wimbledon final versus Roger Federer.

Having just reached the French Open semifinals, Murray will now have extra time to train with his new coach Amelie Mauresmo before he starts his Wimbledon title defense in a few weeks.

"I thought the first set was a pretty high standard," Murray said to BBC Sport. "I thought he served pretty well throughout the whole match. I have only got myself to blame that I lost the first set. I don't know how many set points I had, but quite a lot of them were on my serve."

Top seed Stanislas Wawrinka advanced with a 6-2, 6-2 win over former event winner Sam Querrey. Former Wimbledon finalist Tomas Berdych got past Adrian Mannarino of France 7-6(2), 6-4.