It is becoming less astonishing and more hopeful to observe the ability you have Carlos Alcaraz at 18 years of playing against any rival. Even one of the best of the last decades, such as Andy Murray.Although the British, after a retreat threat and a hip operation, is no longer there for the trots that made him number one and winner of three Grand Slams. The Murcian took revenge for the British victory a few weeks ago at the 1000 Masters in Indian Wells, and beat him in the ATP 500 in Vienna by 6-3 and 6-4 in 2h06. In his first quarter-finals in a tournament of this category, Alcaraz will see them on Friday with the Italian Matteo Berrettini (7th in the ranking), who came back against Nikoloz Basilashvili (6-7 (5), 6-2 and 6-3).
“This time I will know where to shoot,” Carlos had warned, who took good notes from that first-round duel in the California desert., in which a 34-year-old veteran was able to solve a game that had been difficult for him with a lot of skill. This time, the Spaniard did not leave him, tactically he was brilliant and knew how to take advantage of Murray’s lack of effectiveness with the first service (51%). to attack the seconds and earn 20 points against them. Thus he made five breaks to a born defender, who accused the wear and tear of a very demanding match and of a first set that lasted 1h05 and that marched with a 2-3 on the scoreboard for Charly in the 45th minute. After many occasions and a couple of alternatives, the 42nd in the ranking scored that very competitive first round.
Sir Andy, who did not know the defeat in Vienna (9-0 and titles of 2014 and 2016), did not give up and went for all in the second, broke to get 2-1 and consolidated the advantage with his serve. Although as the minutes passed, he looked more and more tired and in a certain state of despair, given the evidence that Alcaraz was not going to forgive him for a mistake. clean right. After a couple of threats, he accepted the break that leveled the set and could no longer beat a game against the great promise, increasingly reality, of Spanish tennis.
The fact that be the second youngest player to beat Murray, after Croatian Borna Coric, who did it with 18 years but a few days less in Dubai 2015, speaks clearly of the new feat of Alcaraz, which has ‘killed’ two Britons so far this week.
“This time I knew how to beat him”
After the match, Carlos Alcaraz made a statement at a press conference, collected by EFE. The Spanish revealed that he came with the lesson learned. In fact, he reduced his unforced errors from 42 in the previous quote, to 15 in this one: “The first time I played with Murray I didn’t know how to do it and I was nervous. Today I was expecting a difficult game, but it was different and this time I already knew how to play it. “ “I had seen him play millions of times, but it is not the same to have him in front of him than to see him on television,” Alcaraz explained. “The truth is that I prefer a faster track like the one in Vienna. I try to make my game more and more aggressive and these types of surfaces benefit me, “he acknowledged. About his next opponent, he said the following: “I trained with Berrettini at Indian Wells. I know him well and I have had the opportunity to watch him play many times. We’ll see if he wins against Basilashvili. “
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