Murray shocked by Taiwanese

BEIJING // Andy Murray was knocked out of the singles tennis tournament in the first round yesterday after a forlorn performance saw him well beaten 7-6 (7/5) 6-4 by the world No 77 Lu Yen-Hsun. Murray, who just a week ago won his first Master title, only had himself to blame for his early departure after failing to take advantage of the chances that came his way and allowing the man from Taiwan one of the best wins of his career.

Murray's only hope of securing an Olympic medal now rests with the doubles event alongside his brother Jamie. Rafael Nadal made no mistake, however, in his singles debut, overcoming numerous missed chances by winning the final four games to beat Potito Starace of Italy 6-2 3-6 6-2. Nadal played doubles but not singles at the Athens Olympics in 2004. He's playing both at Beijing, staying in the athletes' village and hoping to sustain a summer surge that has assured him of the world's No 1 ranking next week.

"I am very happy to be here," Nadal said. "I'm just trying to enjoy 100 per cent the experience, and later try my best on court." The top seed Roger Federer began his quest for his first Olympic medal by beating Dmitry Tursunov 6-4 6-2, then received congratulations from one of the spectators, US basketball player LeBron James. Federer has won only two tournaments this year, and an Olympic gold medal would help him salvage the year after failure at Sydney in 2000 and at Athens in 2004.

Nicolas Massu of Chile opened his defence as Olympic champion by beating Steve Darcis of Belgium 6-4, 7-5. Massu won the gold at Athens in the singles and the doubles. The womens' seventh seed, Venus Williams, playing her first match since winning Wimbledon for the fifth time, beat Switzerland's Timea Bacsinszky 6-3 6-2. Williams, who won gold medal in the singles and doubles in 2000, showed no sign of the knee injury that has kept her from playing in recent weeks.

The No 4 seed, her sister Serena, won all four games when her match resumed after an overnight rain interruption, beating Olga Govortsova of Belarus, 6-3 6-1. Like Nadal, Serena Williams was playing her first singles match at the Olympics. She won a gold medal in doubles in 2000 with sister Venus. * Agencies