Timid Murray taken to the cleaners in Monte Carlo by Djokovic

Their much-anticipated third-round match at the Monte Carlo Open on Thursday ended in a 6-0, 6-4 defeat for the 20-year-old Scot against his old rival, who is world No 3 and Australian Open champion.

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Murray, ranked 20th, could not match the depth and consistency of Djokovic, who was born just a week after him and who has won all four of their meetings on the main tour.

While the result was not unexpected, the scale of the first-set margin is a sharp reminder of the ground Murray needs to make up.

The forthright Serb had some firm advice about the playing style he believes needs to be adopted by a player who was a great friend and rival in the juniors and who, until 12 months ago, was neck and neck with him in the rankings.

'I believe he can become a force on clay,' said Djokovic. 'Andy is trying to mix it up and change the pace of the ball but I still feel that he needs to be more aggressive.'

This is a view shared by many observers and again Murray found that against the highest-class opposition, his tendency to hit too many innocuous shots was often punished.

He could, though, claim some progress from this week as it was the first time he has reached the third round in a clay-court Masters series event.

He said: "I felt I was understanding how to play a little bit better on it. I've done a lot of things well this week, which gives me a bit of confidence for the rest of the clay-court season, but I was disappointed with how I played today.

"Normally my groundstrokes are pretty consistent but today I hit about four winners and about 25 or 30 unforced errors, which isn't good enough against a player like Novak."

Of course, much of their contrasting fortunes is down to the fact that Murray has missed almost half of the last 12 months through injury.

In that period Djokovic has powered ahead, turning into the complete player and professional, an extremely tough competitor with a settled team guiding him and a clear sense of purpose.

Murray is at least his equal in natural talent but is still looking for that absolute clarity of direction on and off the court that is usually found in champions.

On Thursday he was watched by his clay-court guru Alex Corretja, the former French Open finalist who may prove to be an astute enough signing but who is expected to be off the payroll well before Wimbledon.

The score was probably a little flattering for Djokovic, who was sent on his way to victory by coming through a mammoth second game of the match that lasted 14 minutes before he managed to break serve.

That knocked the stuffing out of Murray, who had another of those off days with his serve, sending only 42 per cent of his first deliveries in and giving his opponent five double-faults, including one on match point.

The last time he suffered a 0-6 set was against the same opponent at the Masters event in Miami more than a year ago when not fully fit.

He promised a recovery when he broke for 2-1 but a poor game immediately afterwards restored parity. Two break-points were lost in the next game and they stayed level until the 'Serbanator' broke in what was to be the final game.

Afterwards Murray was keen to send his best wishes to his fellow Briton Jamie Baker, who is at home recovering from a serious virus that is likely to keep him out of Wimbledon.

In the more immediate future, Murray must decide whether to ask for a wildcard into next week's ATP event in Barcelona or to train ahead of the forthcoming Masters events, the Italian and German Opens.