Anderson crushes Murray dream of title hat-trick

Andy Murray saw his bid for a third straight ATP Masters title in Canada crushed by Kevin Anderson on Tuesday as the South African defeated Britain's world number four 6-3, 6-1 in a second-round match. Murray, winner of the last two editions of the event that alternates between Montreal and Toronto, was bundled out in 69 minutes. Murray was playing his first competitive match since leading Great Britain to an emotional Davis Cup win over Luxembourg on July 10 in his native Scotland. Murray had had a first round bye courtesy of his seeding while Anderson - ranked 35 in the world - had breezed through against Spaniard Pablo Andujar in the first round. Although Anderson served just five aces, Murray's lack of recent competition showed as he started flat and was broken four times to start his US Open build-up on the worst possible note. Murray's previous worst defeat in Canada was a 2007 Montreal loss to Italian Fabio Fognini in the second round after winning a first-round encounter. Murray, who had hoped to kick-start his summer after several weeks of gruelling preparation in Miami, remained baffled by his failure to fire when it mattered. "I just felt very slow, the game seemed to be going so fast," he said. "It's happened to me already once this year. "I've trained really hard to get ready for the tournament. I've always played very well here. "Today I couldn't get anything going. I started both sets really, really badly which doesn't help against someone that serves like Kevin. "I was down a break early. I didn't get anything going at all." The three-time Wimbledon semi-finalist could not fault his preparation. "I trained in Miami for two weeks before I came here on Thursday. I took probably a week, 10 days off after Davis Cup to rest. "I've been training for two and a half weeks." Murray was clearly frustrated by his inability to pinpoint what had gone wrong. "It's normal to be a little bit sort of like nervous and not play your best when you haven't played for four or five weeks," he said. "But I hoped to be playing better than that, especially with the amount I've been practicing. "I have to try and turn it round for next week," added Murray, who is slated to play doubles here alongside his brother Jamie before heading to next week's Cincinnati Masters. Murray, who took an 18-3 Canadian win-loss record into the match, had been aiming to become the first player to win three titles in a row in Canada since Ivan Lendl from 1987-1989.