Murray defeat- not a surprise

Murray's 7-6 6-3 quarter-final defeat to David Nalbandian in the Paris Masters brought to an end a sensational run from the British Number One and perhaps gave him some extra time to recover from a successful, but tiring few weeks.

The loss came as no real surprise against the in-form Argentinian as Murray must have been feeling fatigued after the past few weeks which had seen him successfully claim back-to-back titles in Madrid and St.Petersburg.

What the loss has done, has given Murray time to reflect on what has been a sensational run towards the end of this year. The Scot had won 14 consecutive matches and has really cemented his place in the top four, which is, no doubt, a magnificent achievement.

The quarter final against Nalbandian just proved to be a match far and you really have to be at 100 per cent to beat the Argentine, especially considering the form he has shown in the last couple of weeks. Murray surely won't be too disheartened by this defeat after such an amazing run, and will go into the end of season Masters Cup full of confidence after such a brilliant year.

No matter what happens in Shanghai, it has been a fantastic year for Murray and he has proved to the world that he is the real deal.

I feel that the key for the Brit has been his consistency. Earlier on in his career, many criticised Murray for suffering too many defeats against lower ranked opponents, but this year he has eradicated this and gone far in most of the tournaments he has participated in, only really losing to highly ranked players.

Not only has Murray been more consistent, but he has put in exceptional performances this year which have resulted him beating the three players ahead of him in the world rankings, Rafael Nadal, Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic. This deminstrates that Murray has the credentials to break into the top three over the next few years and he will no doubt challenge for grand slam titles througout his career.

(Picture provided by James Martin Phelps)