Andy Murray knocked out of Barcelona Open as Dominic Thiem proves a test too far for world No 1

Andy Murray lost a brutal battle with powerful Austrian Dominic Thiem as his run at the Barcelona Open was ended in the semi-finals.

The world number one overcame a slow start, which looked set at one stage to condemn him to a swift defeat, to drag himself back into the contest.

However, Thiem proved too strong as he clinched a 6-2 3-6 6-4 win in two hours and 15 minutes.

A day after needing a final-set tie-break to see off Albert Ramos-Vinolas in just shy of three hours, the Scot again endured another gruelling work-out.

He was outclassed in the first set, but dug in during the second as he grew into the contest and levelled the match with a single break of serve.

He was a break up and then down by one in the third as both players proved near impossible to shake off, but fourth seed Thiem prevailed to claim his third British scalp of the week after knocking out Kyle Edmund and Dan Evans.

This was Thiem's first win over Murray in three attempts, but both of their previous two contests had gone to three sets and this was another scrap.

Murray started badly as he was broken in the first game of the match, gifting Thiem the advantage with a tame forehand into the net.

The Scott struggled to get into his stride as he dropped his serve three times in the set, Thiem ruthlessly converting three out of three break points, to his opponent's one.

The Austrian's fierce hitting was proving too much for Murray, playing his second tournament after his elbow injury and clearly still getting back up to speed.

The world number one faced a real battle to hold serve in the first game of the second set, but did so as it went with serve, albeit Thiem's holds far more routine than his opponent's.

The momentum swung in the eighth game of the set, though, as Murray broke decisively for a 5-3 lead before seeing it out to level at 1-1.

Murray broke again at the start of the third set, his fourth game on the trot, but Thiem stopped the rot by breaking straight back.

Murray faced break points at 3-2 down in the decider and Thiem duly moved 4-2 in front.

But the Scott had 0-30 and 15-40 in the next game and made the most of the chance to break straight back

Murray served to stay in match at 4-5, but, when he went way long with a smash to hand Thiem a match point, the 23-year-old closed out the contest.

PA