World number four Andy Murray suffered a perhaps surprising defeat to Argentine qualifier Juan Monaco in round two (Murray’s first match) of the Rome Masters.

The argentine won the match in three sets after Murray had earlier looked to be cruising to a straight sets win and in the end losing 6-1 3-6 5-7.

Murray, who turns just 22 in a few weeks had a first-round bye and took the first set in quick time finishing of the set in just 33 minutes but struggled with his own serve in the second set which allowed Monaco to take advantage and hit back.

Murray’s struggles continued in the third and found himself 4-2 down, but the the Scot hit back to level at 4-4 in the decider. However the Argentine “clay-specialist” Monaco broke for 6-5 lead and served out the set to take his first win against Murray.

The pair had met once before earlier this year when Murray beat Monaco in the first round on his way to his third masters in Miami. 

World number one and two Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer both progressed to the third round.

Monaco’s victory over Murray means he will meet Marin Cilic in round three after the Croat overcame Belgium’s Christophe Rochus 6-0 5-7 6-2.

Clay court Legend Rafael Nadal needed to produce his best tennis to beat Murray in the Scot’s first ever clay court semi final. The Spaniard brought an end to the Scot’s best ever week on the red stuff with a straight-sets victory 6-2 7-6 (7-4) at the Monte Carlo Masters.

Nadal, winner of the last four Monte Carlo titles and not dropped a set since 2006 in the event was up against the Scot for the second time on clay. Most thought Murray would lose easily and that’s the way match seemed to be heading with Nadal taking the first comfortably and moving a break ahead in the second.

With Nadal serving for the match at 5-3, Murray finally showed a glimmer of hope that someone else on tour could match Nadal on clay, breaking back and forcing the set into a tie break.

Murray did well to stay with Nadal in the tie break hitting back after twice being mini-break down, and with Murray serving at 4-5, the most crucial point between the two was played. Murray did enough that would have beat every other player on tour but Nadal and somehow the Spaniard managed to win the point.

Nadal will now play Novak Djokovic in the final after the Serbinator beat Stan Wawrinka 4-6 6-1 6-3. A defeat by Wawrinka would have seen Djokovic slip a place in the rankings and Murray become the world number three, that however will now have to wait.

Djokovic and Murray though will both close the gap on Roger Federer, with Federer dropping points this week and both Murray and Djokovic gaining.

Andy Murray continued his dominance of the start of the 2009 tennis season with a straight forward straight sets victory over world number 3 Novak Djokovic and claim the Miami masters title.

Murray beat Djokovic 6-2 7-5 in 103 minutes.

This is arguably the biggest title of his Murray’s career to date, the Sony Ericsson Open is affectionately known as the “Fifth Slam” attracting all of the top players every year.

Miami is Murray third Masters title, following wins in Cincinnati and Madrid last year.

Murray dominated the first set in searing heat winning the first set in quick time. The second set proved more tricky and was seemingly going the way of Djokovic with Murray trailing 5-2, but the Scot hut back to win the last 5 games and claim the title.

After his win Murray spoke in front of the capacity crowd,

“The conditions here are so tough – I know sitting there is difficult but running around is pretty tricky too….He started to come to the net a lot more and I lost my timing a little bit and I started to find it a little bit difficult towards the end of the second set…..I’m training very hard to try and do that (win a slam) but there are so many great players just now – Novak, Rafa, Roger – and they’ve been dominating the Slams for the last few years, It would be nice to get in there and take one.”

Andy now heads back to Europe for the start of the clay-court season and will new his partership with Alex Coretja as he trys to come to grips with the red stuff.