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 amongst the most personally gratifying for the Brit. Murray has produced quality tennis and showed glimpses of his vintage best against several youngsters on the ATP tour this year.

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 from Spain.

The duo met each other at the Indian Wells Masters couple of weeks ago and it was the Brit who got the better of Alcaraz in three sets. Let’s see how the match progressed.

Carlos Alcaraz got 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.

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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 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.

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 against Murray in Dubai, 2015.

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 big-name upsets.

Also read: “React a Little Quicker”: Andy Murray Explains How He Turned Around the Battle Against Hubert Hurkacz at ATP Vienna Open 2021