Reuters

Murray suffers setback

Updated 10.02 Wed Jan 09 2008

Keywords: tennis, Australian Open, Marat Safin, Andy Murray

Andy Murray's preparations for the Australian Open have suffered a setback with straight sets defeat in the Melbourne Classic.

The Scot, who was winner of the Qatar Open last week, went down 6-1 6-4 to 27-year-old Russian, Marat Safin at the Kooyong Classic.

The Scot, who was winner of the Qatar Open last week, went down 6-1 6-4 to 27-year-old Russian, Marat Safin at the Kooyong Classic

It was Murray's final event before playing in the first grand slam of the year.

Safin won the Australian Open in 2005, but a series of injuries contributed to a loss of form that triggered a slide down the rankings.

But the former world number one has worked hard on his fitness in the off-season and the win against in-form Murray confirms that he is finally free of injury.

In Melbourne there were also wins for American Andy Roddick, who beat Ivan Ljubicic 6-3 6-0, and Cypriot Marcos Baghdatis, who overcame Nikolay Davydenko 6-4 4-6 6-1.