A racquet-smashing Andy Murray saw his hopes of a third Miami Masters title go up in flames, the world No.2 bowing out in the third round at the hands of Grigor Dimitrov.

Murray, who also went out in the third round of the Indian Wells Masters a fortnight ago, faltered after taking the opening set, the 6-7 (1-7) 6-4 6-4 defeat leaving Murray with just two wins on tour since reaching the Australian Open final.

The Miami Masters champion in both 2009 and 2013, Murray seemed to have the measure of the 26th seeded when he broke the Bulgarian in the third game after wasting three break points in the opening game.

Dimitrov hit straight back to level at 2-2, the Brit eventually prevailing when he dropped just one point in the tie-break.

Dimitrov came out hot to start the second set, with Murray winning just two points in falling behind 4-0.

He did get it back to 4-3, but when the match was pushed to a third set, Murray took out his frustrations on his racquet.

It seemed to do the trick as Murray opened up a 3-1 lead in the decider, only for Dimitrov to peel off the final four games in succession to take the set.