Murray cruises in singles, loses in doubles

Andy Murray failed to replicate his sensational singles form in the doubles after he and Jamie Delgado crashed out of the St Petersburg Open.

The pair lost 6-0 6-4 to highly-rated Eric Butorac and Frantisek Cermak.

The result came after Murray kept his singles winning spree going with a comfortable 6-3 6-3 first-round victory over Viktor Troicki.

The British number one is the defending champion and top seed for the event, and after breaking his Serbian opponent in the fifth game he did not look back.

Murray is on a high after making it back-to-back Masters Series victories with a straight-sets win over Gilles Simon in Madrid.

He only arrived in Russia a day before the match and could have been forgiven for being below par in his first meeting with the 22-year-old Serb, but Murray was never in any danger of making an early exit.

The Scot will now face a tricky test against exciting young Latvian Ernests Gulbis, who beat Guillermo Garcia-Lopez 6-0 6-2 in the first round.

Murray took the title last year with a 6-2 6-3 victory over big-hitting Spaniard Fernando Verdasco in the final - his first trophy following a wrist injury that saw him miss the French Open and Wimbledon.

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