Murray loses to Ljubicic in China

Murray will use the tournament as a warmup to Australia (GETTY IMAGES)

Andy Murray today crashed out of the China Open in Beijing after losing in straight sets to Ivan Ljubicic.

The British number one had not dropped a set in reaching the quarter-finals but Ljubicic powered to a 6-3 6-2 victory in just 67 minutes.

Murray had already needed to save one break point in the fourth game before he was broken in the sixth, and the 23-year-old saved a set point in his next service game as well with an ace.

Ljubicic was having no such problems on his serve, the 31-year-old Croatian not facing a single break point throughout the set and calmly serving out to take it 6-3 with his sixth ace.

Murray's hopes of mounting a comeback suffered an immediate blow when he lost his serve again at the start of the second set, but the Scot did get to 0-30 on Ljubicic's serve in the sixth game.

However, the world number 17 responded in stunning fashion with four aces in succession to get out of trouble and emphatically break Murray's spirit.

Murray, the second seed, was unsurprisingly broken again in the next game and Ljubicic served out to seal a comprehensive win and book his place in the semi-finals.