Murray suffers shock early exit at Indian Wells

The British No 1’s first match in a month ended in disappointment as he lost in straight sets, 7-6 6-3, paying the price for a series of unforced errors.

The fifth seed, who had a bye in the first round – an event he reached the final of two years ago – was largely second best as the left-hander claimed his first top-10 scalp.

The Scot broke for a 3-2 advantage in the first set but was pegged back immediately by the left-hander, who took the set to a tie-break and won it 7-4.

The home favourite continued to show no fear and troubled Murray at the start of the second set, breaking the Scot in the opening game – only for the Australian Open finalist to respond immediately and impressively with a break of his own.

However, Young broke again in the sixth game and the Scot could not respond, the match reaching its conclusion after 94 minutes with another unforced error from Murray.

The Scot made a quick exit from the court after the match, while Young was more than happy to reflect on a satisfying success.

He said: “This is by far the biggest win of my career.

I’ve had chances before but this is the first time I’ve come through and not let my nerves get the best of me.

“I don’t think he (Murray) played his best tennis today but I’m happy to go through. I’m just happy to get a win over a top-10 player.”

Elena Baltacha made a second-round exit after falling to 13th seed Flavia Pennetta in three sets.

Baltacha had beaten Pennetta’s fellow Italian Roberta Vinci in the previous round and had threatened another upset when she claimed the second set.

Pennetta steadied, however, to take out the match 6-4 3-6 6-4 in just over two hours.

Baltacha said afterwards: “The positive is I’m getting closer and closer every time.

“It’s a shame, it’s disappointing, but for me the most important thing is that I’m not losing one and one, I’m in with a sniff.

“I’ve put myself in a position where I’ve played more of those kind of players on a regular basis. I have played a lot of the top players, I knew what kind of level to expect and I went in very confident in my own ability. It’s nice that I’ve won a round here and had a great performance today.”