Erste Bank Open: Carlos Alcaraz ends Andy Murray's winning streak in Vienna
Carlos Alcaraz has made it to the quarter-finals of the Erste Bank Open 2021. The Spaniard defeated Andy Murray 6: 3 and 6: 4 and inflicted the Scot's first defeat in Vienna at all.
by Jens Huiber
last edit: Oct 27, 2021, 07:53 pm
There are matches where you are already deep in the second set after 45 minutes. Yes, Stefanie Graz was not only finished with her opponent Natasha Zverev in the French Open final in 1988 after 45 minutes, but also with her winner's speech. Andy Murray and Carlos Alcaraz, on the other hand, had just played five games, it went back and forth between the 34-year-old legend and the Spanish teenager. After that the waves smoothed out a bit, the first set went to Alcaraz after 64 minutes. Who was also the more powerful player in the second set and made it 6: 3 and made it to the quarter-finals of the Erste Bank Open. There Alcaraz has to deal with either Matteo Berrettini or Nikoloz Basilashvili.
After losing the first round, Murray once again showed his great fighting spirit. He took Alcaraz's serve to 2-1. Alcaraz managed to equalize to 4: 4 - and then gave it again. After 2:06 hours, the quarter-finals were perfect.
Andy Murray is building form for 2022
For Andy Murray, the defeat against the 18-year-old protégé of Juan Carlos Ferrero meant the end of an impressive series: Neither 2014 nor 2016 had the Scot lost a match in the town hall, on Monday he was successful against Hubert Hurkacz.
Murray had proven in Indian Wells that the three-time major champion can keep up with an up-and-coming young star like Alcaraz even after his hip operation. There he won against the Spaniard in three sets.
The tennis year 2021 basically gave Andy Murray a boost again. Even before the event in Indian Wells, he said that he was building more and more match practice in order to be able to compete again at the top world-class level at the Australian Open next year. With the matches, the automatisms would come, so Murray in Vienna. It doesn't run faster than it did a few months ago. But he moves smarter and better and better at the ball, the more matches he plays.
Here the single tableau in Vienna
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