Murray Shrugs Off Car Accident But Still Succumbs to Doubles Defeat

Andy Murray and his brother Jamie have been knocked out in the first round of the men's doubles in the Paris Masters. The pair lost 6-1, 2-6, 11-9 to Jordon Kerr and Andre Sa, but afterwards the British No1 told reporters that he had been involved in a minor car crash the previous evening, though it had not affected his performance.

"It happened last night, on the way from the airport to the hotel." he told reporters, "There was the driver, me and Brad [Gilbert]. There was a lot of traffic. The driver did nothing wrong. He just broke and somebody, driving at around 20 km/h, bumped into the back of the car.

"I'd never been in a car crash before. There was a pretty loud bang. My back's a bit stiff but it's nothing serious."

In the subsequent doubles defeat, the duo were poor from the outset, with a first serve success rate of just 40%. They improved that aspect of their game in the second set and battled back to level things up, only to lose the third set tie-break.

Andy Murray must now turn his attention to the singles where, after a first-round bye, he faces Jarkko Nieminen on Wednesday as he bids to qualify for the Masters Cup. To do so he will need to reach the quarter-finals and out-perform Tommy Haas, Tommy Robredo and James Blake, who are all ahead of him in the rankings.