Getting back on the horse is usually a good thing but it is probably fair to say that the last thing Andy Murray would have wanted was to have to go back on court for a doubles match.

But, having been left shell-shocked by his 6-4, 6-2 defeat by Guillermo Garcia-Lopez of Spain in the second round of the BNP Paribas Open, Murray was last night back in the saddle, joining brother Jamie in a mini-battle of Britain (three-quarters Scotland) against Colin Fleming and Ross Hutchins.

The shock of Murray's 6-4, 6-2 defeat by the world No.92 was yesterday still ringing around the Indian Wells Tennis Garden, the second time in a row he has been dumped out at the first time of asking.

Unlike 12 months ago, when his attitude and belief were found wanting against Donald Young in a loss that was part of a bigger mental slump, his defeat by Garcia-Lopez was purely an upset.

On the night, Murray's usually trusty backhand was off and he was outplayed from the baseline by a man whose current ranking belies the fact that he has now beaten eight top-10 players in his career.

Until 3-3, 0-40 on the Spaniard's serve, all seemed well but when he failed to break, Murray's focus left him. In the second set, he missed another 0-40 chance and that, pretty much, was that.

Having pronounced himself to be playing better than ever in practice in the build-up to the event, the result was an enormous shock to Murray, who could barely digest what had happened.

And, having expressed the importance of giving 100 per cent in every match – one of the diktats of coach Ivan Lendl – what will be more worrying for Murray will be that he did not find a way to win, missing the chance to close the gap on Roger Federer in the world No.3 spot.

"I can't allow this sort of thing to happen," he said. "I don't know exactly why it happened because I was playing really, really good tennis the whole of the week and the build-up to it. Over the course of the year you might have one bad tournament here or there, but I started the year really well, in Brisbane, Australian Open and Dubai."

Twelve months ago his defeat by Young here was followed by an even worse performance in losing to Alex Bogomolov Jr in Miami.

Murray will be desperate to avoid another let-down when he reaches Miami, where he will be reunited with Lendl.

It is striking that Murray, as he prepared for his match with Garcia-Lopez, should have mentioned he would be speaking to Lendl to discuss how well things were going in practice and how to avoid having a dip in form.

The relationship between the two men has already shown plenty of promise, with Murray's run to the semi-finals in Australia backed up by victory over world No.1 Novak Djokovic in Dubai just over a week ago. This could prove the first test of Lendl's ability as a coach but the good thing is that Murray's state of mind seems far more stable than this time 12 months ago.

"In comparison to how I felt coming in here last year, it was night and day," Murray said. "I was feeling way, way better. I was hitting the ball much better in practice. Mentally I was feeling much better too. I was feeling way more focused and confident, so I'm not sure exactly why that happened."

When Murray takes the time to analyse the match itself, he may note the changes in conditions, from the heat of the day when he was practising, to the cool of the evening when everything slowed down.

The shock of the loss – "when I was coming back to the locker room, I was thinking 'why did it happen'," – will die down sooner rather than later and, doubles aside, he will turn his focus to Miami, where more ranking points are at stake.

"I need to make sure I turn it around in time for Miami," he said. "I have had bad losses before and come back better so now the next two weeks the goal is to prepare for Miami and get myself playing very well again."