Andy Murray won't be joining Australian ace Alex de Minaur in the Shenzhen Open quarter-finals after the Scot was beaten in straight sets by a familiar foe, Fernando Verdasco, in his penultimate tournament of the season.
Britain's former world No.1 had made decent strides with two previous wins this week as he continued to make promising progress on his comeback from hip surgery in January, but he was well beaten 6-4 6-4 by the Spanish veteran Verdasco.
It was a repeat of the 34-year-old's straight sets victory over Murray in the second round of the US Open in August. The two wins in a month came after Verdasco had previously suffered eight consecutive defeats to the Scot stretching back nine years.
Murray, down to 311 in the world rankings, had enjoyed the best win of his comeback by beating David Goffin on Thursday but fifth seed Verdasco was too solid and occasionally spectacular, cracking 11 aces and 38 winners in his one hour 40-minute win.
It set up Verdasco's first hardcourt semi-final berth for nearly a year against Japanese qualifier Yoshihito Nishioka who, like the Spaniard, disposed of British opposition, beating Cameron Norrie 7-6(2) 6-2.
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Murray will go on to next week's China Open in Beijing, his last event of his truncated six-tournament season before he concentrates on ensuring he is in his best possible shape for the Australian Open.
The other semi-final will see rising Australian teenager Alex de Minaur, who defeated Bosnia's Damir Dzumhur 6-3 7-6 (9-7), face France's Pierre-Hugues Herbert, who battled from a set down past Spain's Albert Ramos-Vinolas 6-7 (6-8) 7-6 (7-1) 6-4.
