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Bautista Agut condemns Murray to heavy Qatar defeat
Former world number one and three-time major champion Andy Murray crashed to one of the heaviest defeats of his career on Wednesday, winning just a single game in a straight-sets loss to Roberto Bautista Agut at the Qatar Open.
Second seed Bautista Agut eased to a 6-0, 6-1 win in the second round of a tournament where Murray, now ranked 87 in the world, was champion in 2008 and 2009.
The outcome was a dramatic contrast to the last time the pair met at the 2019 Australian Open when Murray lost an emotional five-setter and feared his career was at an end.
Bautista Agut, who won the Doha title in 2019 and reached the final last year, will next play either Murray's compatriot Dan Evans or fellow Spaniard, Alejandro Davidovich Fokina.
Top seed Denis Shapovalov of Canada enjoyed a comfortable 6-4, 6-0 win over Slovakia's Alex Molcan, ranked 73 in the world.
In the last eight, Shapovalov will meet Frenchman Arthur Rinderknech who claimed a 6-7 (5/7), 6-1, 6-4 win over seventh-seeded Kazakh Alexander Bublik, the champion in Montpellier earlier this month.
A. Walsh--BTZ
