Andy Murray of Great Britain wipes his forehead between points while playing Kevin Anderson of South Africa during the Rogers Cup at Uniprix Stadium.Matthew Stockman
The two-time defending Rogers Cup men's champion is heading home early from this year's tournament.
Britain's Andy Murray crashed out in stunning fashion Tuesday, falling 6-3, 6-1 in the second round to Kevin Anderson.
Murray, who had a bye in the first round, was seeded fourth and is fourth overall in the latest ATP rankings. He's the tournament's first defending champion to lose an opening match since Marat Safin was knocked out in 2001.
Meanwhile, Canada's Vasek Pospisil advanced to the second round with a 4-6, 6-3, 6-4 win over Argentina's Juan Ignacio Chela.
The 155th-ranked player from Vernon, B.C., will take on Roger Federer in the next round. The Swiss master lost last year's final to Murray and is ranked third in the world and third at this year's tournament.
There will be no rematch this year.
"I've always played very well here and today I couldn't get anything going," Murray said. "I started both sets really, really badly, which doesn't help against someone who serves like Kevin."
The six-foot-eight Anderson is ranked 35th in the world and had only ever beaten one top-10 player going into the match — Novak Djokovic in 2008.
Anderson landed 65 per cent of his first serves and had five aces at Uniprix Stadium.
"(It was) not exactly what I was expecting," Anderson said of Murray's performance.
"And at the same time I think ... the way I played, the way I served today — I think I did make it pretty tough for him."
Murray, who won the 2009 Rogers Cup in Montreal and successfully defended his title last year in Toronto, said his South African opponent's serve is the best part of his game.
"If he serves well — it's a very fast court, it's tough to break — he can be dangerous," Murray said.
Earlier Tuesday, German qualifier Philipp Petzschner ousted No. 9 Gilles Simon of France 7-5, 6-2.
After a tight first set, Petzschner dominated the second against Simon, who is ranked 11th in the world. The 80th-ranked Petzschner will take on Ivo Karlovic of Croatia in the second round.
Meanwhile in other early action, No. 10 seed Richard Gasquet of France got past Floria Mayer of Germany 6-3, 6-2; American qualifier Michael Russell downed Spain's Albert Montanes 7-5, 6-2; and Ukraine's Sergiy Stakhovsky upended Germany's Philipp Kohlschreiber 6-2, 7-5.
Top-seeded Novak Djokovic was set to meet Russia's Nikolay Davydenko in the feature evening match.