Andy Murray is out of the Gijon Open after losing in three sets to American Sebastian Korda in the quarterfinals.
Former world number one British player Murray, presently ranked 48th, won five straight games to seal the second set and force a decider.
However, he was defeated 6-4 1-6 6-1 by world number 47 Korda, who will now play France’s Arthur Rinderknech.
Murray, 35, received a wildcard into the competition, his first since the Laver Cup in September.
The British number three defeated Pedro Cachin of Argentina in the second round after defeating Alejandro Davidovich Fokina in the first round.
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After two breaks of service down in the first set on Friday, Murray could not recover completely. Nevertheless, he cut the deficit to 5-4 before Korda finished off the first set after 56 minutes.
As he built a 5-0 lead on his approach to tying the match, Murray reacted by breaking serve twice and surviving four break chances. Then, two games later, he won his first set point.
But in the decisive set, Korda made a fantastic comeback. The 22-year-old embarked on a five-game run before serving out the match to love, reversing the previous stage.
The ATP Tour’s China leg was postponed due to continued Covid-19 limitations, and Andrey Rublev is the top seed in Gijon, one of the six one-year sanctioned events this season.
The Russian will play Austrian Dominic Thiem in the other semifinal to reach the season-ending ATP Finals for the third year.
