Tired Murray joins Federer at Paris Masters exit door

PARIS (Reuters) - A long season and a short night took their toll on Andy Murray who lost 1-6 6-3 6-4 to Czech Radek Stepanek in the Paris Masters third round on Thursday.

The British world number four who battled for over two hours to beat James Blake on Wednesday, finishing in the middle of the night, started well against Stepanek, relying on his strong serve, but then collapsed, making many unforced errors.

The 22-year-old Scot, seeded fourth, joined Roger Federer on the indoor event's casualty list. The world number one fell to unheralded Frenchman Julien Benneteau in the second round on Wednesday.

Playing on an outside court, Murray suggested he could recover when he broke Stepanek, who was leading 5-2 and serving for the match in the decisive set.

Two games later, however, the Czech, seeded 13th, served for the match again, wrapping it up with a service winner after 77 minutes.

"Obviously, I was not a my best but I was not expecting to (be)," Murray told reporters. "It was four o'clock by the time I got to bed and that's not the ideal preparation for a match."

Murray, who came back from a wrist injury to claim his sixth title of the year on Sunday in Valencia, can now enjoy a few days' rest to prepare for the November 22-29 World Tour finals in London featuring the world's top eight players.

"After a few days off I'll feel good," he said. "I'm looking forward to London. I'll give it my best shot."

(Reporting by Patrick Vignal, editing by Ken Ferris)