VIENNA/STARNBERG, October 27, 2021
Andy Murray‘s perfect record at the Erste Bank Open in Vienna came to an end at the hands of rising Spanish teenage star Carlos Alcaraz.
The 18-year-old hit 27 winners to end the Briton’s winning streak of nine matches, securing a 6-3, 6-4 victory in a punishing second-round contest of the ATP 500 event on Wednesday. The encounter lasted two hours and six minutes.
In his A GAME 🔥@alcarazcarlos03 gets revenge on his Indian Wells rivalry with Andy Murray#ErsteBankOpen pic.twitter.com/OlflUKUD6r
— Tennis TV (@TennisTV) October 27, 2021
“It’s a great feeling to play against Andy Murray and to beat him. He played really, really well but I’m really happy for the performance today,” said Alcaraz, who lost to the former World No. 1 in at the BNP Paribas Open Masters 1000 event in Indian Wells earlier this month.
“Indian Wells was the first time I meet Andy Murray on court so now I knew a little bit more about Andy Murray on court, his game. I just tried to play aggressive, don’t let him play his game.”
Murray is a two-time champion in Vienna. He lifted trophy at the Stadthalle in 2014 as well as in 2016. Alcaraz, the youngest player in the Top 100 of the ATP Rankings, will take on No. 6 seed Matteo Berrettini in the quarterfinals, who rallied past Indian Wells finalist Nikoloz Basilashvili of Georgia 6-7(5), 6-2, 6-3. The Italian, who became the sixth player to qualify for the Nitto ATP Finals on home soil in Turin on Monday, saved all three break points he faced to advance after two hours and five minutes.
In other action, Jannik Sinner defeated big-serving US-American Reilly Opelka 6-4, 6-2. The No. 7 seed from Italy withstood eight aces and broke his opponent’s serve three times to prevail after 63 minutes. Next up for Sinner will be Austrian wild card entry Dennis Novak.
Jürgen Melzer hangs up his racquet
Meanwhile, Jürgen Melzer‘s great career finally came to an end. The 40-year-old Lower Austrian had to admit defeat in the first round of the doubles competition alongside German Alexander Zverev against the Australian-Slovak pairing John Peers and Filip Polasek 6-7(3), 5-7.
“Thank you very much, it was a huge honor for me,” said Melzer after the match during his on-court speech at the #glaubandich-Court, situated in a tent on the square of the Vienna Ice Skating Club.
“My career at international level started here almost 22 years ago in 1999 at the Wiener Stadthalle. Twenty-two years later, I’m standing here being happy of everything I achieved. It was an unbelievable journey that ends today and that I couldn’t have dreamed of.”
