Andy Murray prepared to play Paris Masters qualifiers after European Open loss

Andy Murray suggested he could enter the Paris Masters via qualifying after losing to Diego Schwartzman in the second round of the European Open in Antwerp.

Schwartzman secured the victory in straight sets with a tight 6-4 7-6(6) win.

The Argentine came from 4-1 down to take the first set while Murray forced a tie-break in the second set after going 4-2 behind.

Murray even saved a match point in the key second set tie-break, but Schwartzman recorded the win.

The Scot defeated American star Frances Tiafoe in a pulsating first-round clash to set up his meeting with the Argentine before blaming his poor mentality for the loss.

Schwartzman reached the final in Antwerp in 2016 and 2017, and he faces Brandon Nakashima of America in the quarter-final today.

Murray returns to action at the Erste Bank Open in Vienna next week ahead of the Stockholm Open in November.

The three-time Grand Slam champion may also enter the Rolex Paris Masters as either a wildcard or a qualifier.

“There’ll be a decision on the final Paris wildcard on Monday,” said Murray. “I might even play the qualifiers there.

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“Sport is a results business. Play well or poorly, it doesn't matter if you lose matches. You need to be winning.

“That's what I want in the last few tournaments. There are no guarantees the results will come, but I want to win more matches.”

The Scot’s last singles title came at Antwerp in 2019, when Murray defeated Stan Wawrinka less than a year after his hip surgery and seemed to indicate his return to form – but nagging physical issues continued to bother him.

“It was tough,” Murray said at a press conference before the European Open began.

“Obviously winning Wimbledon, the pressure and everything was unbelievably difficult, but to win a tournament at this level with a metal hip and everything that had gone into that in the previous years, it was a long road, so I have good memories from here.”

Murray's ranking has dropped to 172 as a result of the points from his 2019 triumph finally no longer counting, but he has had several encouraging displays recently in losses to Alexander Zverev at Indian Wells and Stefanos Tsitsipas at the US Open.

The Paris Masters runs from November 1 to November 7.

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