Nadal withdraws, Murray loses to Medvedev in Brisbane

BRISBANE, Australia — Andy Murray lost his second-round match less than an hour after Rafael Nadal withdrew from the Brisbane International on Wednesday.

Both players arrived in Australia after long injury breaks, and neither had played a competitive match since September.

At least Murray completed two matches. Playing on a protected ranking after an injury-interrupted 18 months, he beat James Duckworth before losing to fourth-seeded Daniil Medvedev 7-5, 6-2. There were signs in both matches that he is still bothered by the hip problem which has derailed his last two seasons.

Defending women's champion Elina Svitolina also went out in the second round, losing to Aliaksandra Sasnovich 6-4, 0-6, 6-3 in the last match of the day.

Murray, a three-time major champion, recovered a service break in the first set and was in the match at 5-5 until Medvedev won six straight games.

"As you play up the levels, whether it's issues with your game, like if you're not serving as well or if you're not moving as well, the better players exploit that," Murray said. "He is a top player and is able to do that. I need to try and find a way of working out how to get around some of the things I struggle with a little bit now." The second-ranked Nadal had a first-round bye but withdrew on the eve of his scheduled second-round match against Jo-Wilfried Tsonga after having an MRI on a muscle strain in his left thigh.