Tipsarevic joins list of little-known names to beat Murray

To the names of Stanislas Wawrinka, Jean-René Lisnard and Filippo Volandri we can add that of Janko Tipsarevic. The 21-year-old Serb, ranked No 114 in the world, yesterday became the latest unheralded player to beat Andy Murray when he completed a 7-6, 3-6, 6-2 victory here in the first round of the Stella Artois Championships.

Tipsarevic is a thoughtful individual - he has a quotation by Dostoevsky ("Beauty will save the world") tattooed on an arm in Japanese ("I was going to have it done in Russian but it didn't look good," he explained) - but did not exactly have to test his brain powers to win.

Murray, resuming at 5-2 up in the second set after rain had stopped play the previous day, served out to level the match, but then surrendered the initiative by losing three games in a row. Tipsarevic, beaten later in the day by Robby Ginepri in the second round, served well and hit some decent groundstrokes, but all too often he had only to keep the ball in play. As ever there were aspects of Murray's game to admire, but also a flow of errors, often made under little or no pressure, particularly a succession of groundstrokes that ended up in the net.

The final game was typical. Murray served two aces and played the shot of the match - a running forehand down the line - but gave away points with a wild drive volley, a mediocre drop shot, a poor attempt at a half-volley, two forehand errors and a netted backhand.

Murray insists his recent results are of no major concern, but after winning his first senior tournament in February, beating Andy Roddick and Lleyton Hewitt on the way to San Jose victory, he has had a poor run. Troubled by illness and injuries, he has won only three of his last 13 matches and is still seeking a new coach after parting company with Mark Petchey in April.

Murray, who struggled to deal with the slow and windy conditions, was pleased with his serve, but little else. "I made so many mistakes off ground strokes," he said. "I found it difficult to get used to playing on grass. I wasn't moving as well as I normally do on it. Maybe I expected a little bit too much of myself and tried to play a little bit better than I should have done when it was my first match on grass."

Having reached the third round here 12 months ago, when he recorded his first win on the senior tour and beat the world No 30 (Taylor Dent), Murray is set to drop down the world rankings from his present position at No 45. He is also hardly in the best shape to defend his third-round points at the All England Club (he plans to complete his Wimbledon preparations by playing in the Boodles Challenge invitation tournament at Stoke Park in Buckinghamshire next week), though he insists he will not feel any great pressure there.

"I know I played well at Wimbledon last year and I can play well on grass," Murray said. "I'm ranked in the top 50 and I'm only 19, so I'm not worrying about things just now. I just have to win some more of the tighter matches and play a little bit more consistently." Murray's display was in contrast to that of Tim Henman, who enjoyed a stylish and convincing 6-2, 6-4 victory over Paraguay's Ramon Delgado. Henman, who now plays France's Nicolas Mahut, said: "For the first time in a couple of years I feel comfortable with my style of play. I thought I played very, very well."

Andy Roddick and Lleyton Hewitt each recovered from a set down before beating Canada's Frank Dancevic and Spain's Fernando Vicente.

Rafael Nadal, fresh from his French Open triumph, watched his fellow countrymen go 3-0 up in the World Cup against Ukraine - "I saw the best team in the World Cup so far," he said after Spain's eventual 4-0 victory - before marking his debut here by beating America's Mardy Fish 7-6, 6-1. Nadal is enjoying the Queen's grass-court experience. "It's different. I feel as though I'm playing in a very important match when I go on the court because all the people are so calm and silent. The points are always very short - just one ball. It's a different sport."