We have known for a while what a fine player Carlos Alcaraz is. Now we know the young Spaniard is also a quick study. Little more than a fortnight after losing to Andy Murray from a set up at the Indian Wells Masters, Alcaraz turned the tables on the former world No 1, prevailing 6-3, 6-4 to reach the quarter-finals of the Vienna Open with a performance of power, patience and precocity.
In a thoroughly absorbing contest, Alcaraz, the world No 42, demonstrated how quickly he has learned the lessons from a chastening defeat to Murray in the California desert earlier this month. There, the 18-year-old had recovered from a slow start to take the lead only for Murray, drawing deep on his vast reservoir of experience, to rein him in over three gruelling sets. Alcaraz did himself few favours that day, his overeagerness to impose his powerful baseline game on Murray resulting in 43 unforced errors.
The Spaniard was not about to make the same mistake twice. Over the course of a ferociously competitive first set, Alcaraz limited himself to just five mistakes. He did not panic when he fell behind early in the second, accepting the inevitable dip that followed an opening phase of unwavering quality and intensity. And having bided his time, Alcaraz seized his opportunities when they arose, not least when he pounced on a second serve to convert his first match point with a rifled backhand return as Murray made a final, doomed attempt to chase down the ball.
“For me it is a great feeling to play Andy Murray and to be able to beat him,” said Alcaraz, who will face either Matteo Berrettini in the last eight. “I played really, really well and I’m just really happy for the performance today.
“Indian Wells was the first time that I met Andy Murray on court. Now I knew a little bit more, I knew his game, how to play. I was just trying to play aggressive, don’t let him play his game. I think it’s a good result. Maybe the first time I played him a little bit with nerves.”
There was scant room for anxiety this time around. It was a dogfight from the outset, a match of lengthy games and fiercely contested rallies. A seven-minute opening game concluded with Alcaraz drawing first blood, the Spaniard sealing a break with a blistering forehand. By the time Murray levelled the contest at 2-2, capitalising on his sixth break point with an equally weighty strike off the forehand, the battle had been raging for 34 minutes.
It is not often you see a player of Murray’s class and experience slam his racket to the ground in frustration with a match barely underway, but that is what happened in the fifth game when the Scot netted a low-percentage backhand down the line to fall 15-40 behind. Once again, Murray dug in, clawing his way back to deuce and surviving a further two break points; once again, it was Alcaraz who prevailed, earning his second break with another unreturnable forehand. Murray missed two chances to level in the next game, but this time Alcaraz was able to make his advantage stick.
Just as he had in Indian Wells, Murray regrouped at the start of the second set. He had claimed his first top-10 win in over a year in the previous round, defeating Hubert Hurkacz, and he was not about to surrender tamely at a venue where he has been the champion on his only two previous appearances.
Emblematic of his resistance was a gladiatorial 28-shot exchange that left Alcaraz bent over on the baseline, gasping for air after being run from one side to the other and back again. A break soon followed, Murray capitalising brilliantly on some loose play by Alcaraz to move 2-1 ahead, but slowly the physicality of the contest began to catch up on the 34-year-old. As the Spaniard came at him with renewed vigour, varying his baseline barrage with drop shots and some dexterous forays to the net, errors began to creep into Murray’s game. Having led 4-2, Murray was broken in the eighth game as Alcaraz blasted a scorching forehand winner. Another firecracker from the Spaniard’s powerful right side brought up a first match point at 5-4, and finally, after two hours and six minutes, Murray was out of answers.
It has nonetheless been another promising week for Murray, as he acknowledged. “There were moments in this match where I would look back and go: ‘You know what? That was really good,’ said the Scot, whose next scheduled stop is at the Stockholm Open in early November.
“I did some really good stuff in that match and if I continue along that path, build up a little bit more consistency, be a little bit more clinical and a bit more ruthless, I’ll start winning more and have some deep runs.
“I’m not going to keep losing in the second or third round of tournaments. I will get better, I will improve, and I will break through – in one week, two weeks or a few months. It will happen. I would just like it to be happening quicker than it is.”