Andy Murray played one of his best matches recently when he took on Spain’s 18-year old teen sensation Carlos Alcaraz at the Indian Wells Masters 2021. Murray won the match 5-7, 6-3, 6-2 in a match that went over 3 hours. Murray was not the favourite going into the match given the contrasting fitness and athleticism of the two players but nevertheless, it was Murray who continues his stay in the desert.
Murray despite losing the 1st set, looked solid in the match that was evenly contested between the duo. While Murray had played tournaments before coming to the Indian Wells, Alcaraz was back on the tour for the first time since his quarter-final run at the 2021 US Open where he became the youngest quarter-finalist at the Slam in the Open Era.
Praising the performance of his fellow countryman, former US Open finalist and ranked as high as World No. 4, Greg Rusedski took to Twitter the appreciate Murray’s battle against Alcaraz. “Incredible effort to physically beat the young Spaniard with a new calm outlook this week and acceptance. 1st time since CINCY 2020 he has won back to back at master series level,” wrote Greg.
Andy Murray to meet Alexander Zverev in the 3rd round
Murray was himself pleased with his performance against Alcaraz.”It was a brutal match, really tough conditions. The way I fought after losing the first set was great because I feel I should have won that first set. I created lots of chances but didn’t take them. It would’ve been easy to let that slip away but I kept fighting and finished it well,” said Murray.
The win now takes him into the 3rd round where he will meet Germany’s Alexander Zverev who comes into the 3rd round after a 6-4, 3-6, 6-1 win over Jenson Brooksby that also sees him qualify for the 2021 ATP Finals joining Novak Djokovic, Daniil Medvedev and Stefanos Tsitsipas for the Year-End Championships where he was a winner at the 2018 edition.
