Murray suffers Dubai exit to slick Sinner I 'I mentally need to be tougher'

Britain's Andy Murray suffered a comprehensive straight-sets defeat to fourth seed Jannik Sinner at the Dubai Championships on Wednesday.

Murray was unable to create a single break point chance throughout his second-round contest against one of the rising stars of the men's game and fell to a 7-5 6-2 loss.

"It is a special feeling [to share the court with Murray]," Sinner said in his on-court interview.

"He is a legend. Winning three Grand Slams, many, many tournaments and he has had some unfortunate moments with surgeries. His fighting spirit is incredible."

The Scot battled well in the first set which went efficiently to serve from both ends until Sinner struck, breaking 2017 Dubai winner Murray to love for 6-5.

Murray got to 30-30 in the 12th game, but a mighty Sinner first serve and a stunning forehand winner later and the set had slipped away.

Sinner, already ranked 10th in the world at the age of 20, broke again with ease at the start of the second and Murray had to save two break points just to get on the board.

However, with Sinner coming forward aggressively and putting Murray away at every opportunity, the 34-year-old won just one more game on his way out after one hour and 43 minutes.

"There were some nerves," Sinner said. "I lost my last match against him. I tried to stay focused about my game and it worked. Thanks for the support as always. I think I played well, especially in the first set when it was tight in some moments."

Murray blamed a lack of mental toughness for falling short of his latest milestone on this occasion.

He said in his post-match press conference: "Obviously it's something I want to achieve.

"Unless something went horribly wrong in the next six, eight months, I will get to that number.