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18-Year-Old Carlos Alcaraz Enters Record Books After Defeating Andy Murray at ATP Vienna Open 2021
Among the endless list of achievements from the vast career of Andy Murray, his exceptional comeback this season will be personally gratifying for the Brit. At every tournament, Murray produced quality tennis and showed glimpses of his vintage best against several youngsters on the ATP tour.
Currently playing the Erste Bank Open in Vienna, Murray stunned Hubert Hurkacz in the opening round in a marathon encounter. The Brit next faced another rising talent, Carlos Alcaraz.
The duo met each other at the Indian Wells Masters couple of weeks ago and it was the Brit who got the better off Alcaraz in three sets.
Let’s see how the match progressed.
Carlos Alcaraz managed to get the better of Andy Murray in the first set
Both Alcaraz and Murray made it pretty clear very early in the first set that it would be a test of baseline dominance between the two. The duo exchanged breaks of serve as it took close to 45 minutes for the first five games to complete.
Oct 12, 2021; Indian Wells, CA, USA; Andy Murray (GBR) hits a shot against Alexander Zverev (GER) during a third round match in the BNP Paribas Open at the Indian Wells Tennis Garden. Mandatory Credit: Jayne Kamin-Oncea-USA TODAY Sports
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In the end, it was the Spaniard who finally had the last laugh as he managed to break Murray’s serve and ran away with the first set, 6-3. The ability of Alcaraz to hit dominant winners out of nowhere during baseline rallies toppled the Brit as he couldn’t judge his opponent’s speed and movement.
Alcaraz’s baseline dominance proved fatal for Murray in the second set
Even the second set had a similar story as far as break points are concerned. It was Andy who first broke Alcaraz’s serve. However, the Spaniard kept a tight hold on his serve and didn’t allow the Brit to have a double advantage.
Aug 30, 2021; Flushing, NY, USA; Carlos Alcaraz of Spain in action against Cameron Norrie of Great Britain in a first round match on day one of the 2021 U.S. Open tennis tournament at USTA Billie King National Tennis Center. Mandatory Credit: Jerry Lai-USA TODAY Sports
This resilience in serve proved fruitful for Alcaraz as he was able to capitalize on a vulnerable Murray’s service game and leveled the second set, 4-4. With the Spaniard being two games away from victory, the Brit felt the heat as he was serving to stay in the match at 4-5.
The Spaniard’s tactful return game once again proved fatal for Andy Murray as he failed to read his opponent’s heavy-hitting forehands and lost the match in straight sets, 3-6,4-6.
With this victory, Carlos Alcaraz managed to reach the first ATP 500 tournament quarter-finals of his career. Also, the Spaniard became the second youngest player to defeat Murray after Borna Coric’s straight sets victory at Mutua Madrid Open in 2017.
18-year-old @AlcarazCarlos03 advances to 1st #ATP 500 QF of his career by defeating former World No. 1 Andy Murray 6-3 6-4 at @ErsteBankOpen.
Alcaraz is 2nd-youngest player to earn a win over Murray, trailing only 18-year-old @Borna_Coric at 2015 @DDFTennis. #ErsteBankOpen
— ATP Media Info (@ATPMediaInfo) October 27, 2021
Earlier at the US Open this year, Alcaraz stunned the likes of Stefanos Tsitsipas and Cameron Norrie to make a quarter-final debut in slams. With every tournament, the Spaniard garners great attention from fans for his playing style as well as for producing stunning top-seed upsets.
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