Andy Murray went down fighting to Spaniard David Ferrer yesterday, raising the British teenager's hopes of a strong season on clay.
Murray had possibilities but couldn't make them work and lost 4-6 7-6 (7-4) 6-1 to fifth seed Ferrer.
"This is my best performance on clay ever by a longway," Murray said. "This shows that I'm not a bad clay player. Ferrer's a top five on the clay behind Nadal, Federer and some other guys."
Murray served for the match after breaking for 6-5 in the second set against Ferrer, who lost to Roger Federer in a Miamji semifinal and again to the Swiss at last week's Monte Carlo quarters.
But with a minor back problem spoiling his serve, world No 43 Murray was unable to close out what would have been the biggest win of his brief clay career. Instead dropping serve to love and falling in a tiebreaker which levelled the tight contest at a set each.
Ferrer got the edge in the final set, with Murray double-faulting for three match points and exiting after nearly two and a half hours of battle.
Murray now stands 1-3 in career ATP matches on clay after losing in Barcelona on his debut in 2005 and in last week's first round to Jean-Rene Lisnard.
But Murray is suddenly surging with fresh confidence.
"I could have had him," he said. "But he played better in the tiebreaker."
Murray pronounced the effort "ten times better than the first round," where he struggled to beat a lowly Spanish outsider ranked 291.
