There have been positives to take for Murray on his sixteenth look at Indian Wells, the place he completed runner-up to Rafael Nadal in 2009.
Having claimed a straight-set win over David Goffin to achieve the second spherical, Murray delighted the group in a high-quality opening set towards Rublev and a shocking backhand passing shot on an important level allowed him to carry serve for a 5-4 lead.
It appeared as if which will show pivotal as he maintained momentum to achieve a complete of 4 set factors within the following recreation.
However Rublev held on, forcing a tie-break which he would clinch on the second alternative, to go away Murray empty-handed regardless of a promising show in a 66-minute first set.
Effectively supported on court docket two, Murray continued to show flashes of brilliance and beat Rublev with a superbly executed lob because the gamers fought for a bonus within the second set.
However, first to face stress factors in a service recreation he had led 40-0, Murray couldn’t face up to a 3rd break level as Rublev moved 3-1 forward.
The 26-year-old Rublev, who received an attraction after being defaulted from final week’s Dubai Tennis Championships, wouldn’t let up from there – breaking Murray once more earlier than finally taking his fourth match level.
Former world primary Murray has stated he hopes to compete at one other Olympic Video games earlier than he retires, however to attain that he have to be inside the highest 56 of the ATP rankings on 10 June.
The 2-time Olympic champion, who turns 37 in Might, is at the moment ranked 61st and received simply two of his eight matches within the lead-up to Indian Wells.