By Richard Pagliaro | Sunday, October 10, 2021
Andy Murray fought off 18-year-old Carlos Alcaraz 5-7, 6-3, 6-2 in a pulsating three hour triumph to reach the Indian Wells third round for the first time since 2016.
Photo credit: BNP Paribas Open Facebook
Andy Murray’s sweat-soaked shirt hung clung to his frame, ankle braces bulged through his socks and his white baseball cap was tilted slightly askew.
The court-side clock crept past three hours, but Murray was too busy turning back time to notice.
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Wild card Murray delivered maniacal gets, magic touch and true grit fighting past Spanish teenage sensation Carlos Alcaraz 5-7, 6-3, 6-2 in a physical three hour, three-minute Indian Wells battle.
Murray unleashed the entire shot spectrum—cracking his two-handed backhand with venom, carving out devious drop shots, rapping some ridiculous running retrievals, bamboozling Alcaraz with an underarm ace that would have made buddy Nick Kyrgios smile and closing with a stylish serve-and-volley—in a punishing baseline battle to reach the BNP Paribas Open third round for the first time since 2016.
"It wasn't easy out there today, yeah," Murray said. "Not easy conditions. Very hot. Court is incredibly slow. Balls after a couple of games are also extremely slow. Yeah, it's not easy out there, not easy to finish points. Not getting many free points on your serve or anything like that.
"Yeah, it was a good win."
The 18-year-old Alcaraz toppled third-ranked Stefanos Tsitsipas in the US Open third round—two rounds after Tsitsipas out-dueled Murray in a testy five-set opener.
How would the man with the metal implant in his hip hold up in searing heat against the talented teenager 16 years his junior whom Toni Nadal has branded the successor to the Big 3? Murray went full warrior mode and deployed his entire all-court arsenal at time to subdue the explosive Spaniard.
The two-time Olympic gold-medal champion showed major mettle at crunch time saving eight of 10 break points. Murray burst out to a 3-0 lead only to see Alcaraz answer with a three-game run of his own and eventually save a set point.
The 30th-seeded Alcaraz dashed to net but had a foot in the doubles alley when he played an out ball giving Murray an easy volley in the opening point of the 10th game. Deadlocked at 30-all, Alcaraz lined up his two-hander but bashed the backhand wide to face set point.
The Spaniard saved it with a high-bouncing kick serve out wide and when Murray netted a slice Alcaraz evened it after 10 games.
Former world No. 1 Juan Carlos Ferrero, Alcaraz’s coach, watched intently from behind a pair of shades with bright blue lenses and had to be pleased with the sightline in the 11th game. Alcaraz bullied Murray in longer baseline exchanges, opening the court with a backhand down the line than blasting a backhand winner crosscourt—the same he narrowly missed in the prior game—wrapping a love break with a sizzling strike for 6-5.
Alcaraz went tumbling to the court chasing a Murray drive in the ensuing game but arose to whip a forehand and draw even at 30-all. On his first set point, an off-balance Alcaraz missed a diagonal forehand, but caught a break when Murray dumped a drop shot into net for a second set point.
Punishing a series of forehands, Alcaraz drew the error and threw a roundhouse right hand to punctuate a physical 67-minute opening set comeback.
That was just a prelude to the intensity to follow as Murray broke for a 4-2 second-set lead. Murray said his underarm ace was a practical response to Alcaraz's deep court positioning.
"He started returning from further back, so it was even harder to get free points on the serve," Murray said. "I thought if he's going to stand that far back and I'm getting no love from the court and the conditions, why not try it and see if I can bring him forward a little bit again. Wasn't expecting obviously to get an ace out of it. Yeah, he was so far back, he didn't obviously react."
Wasn't expecting it. Serving at 5-3, Murray forced the Spaniard to play a high volley and Alcaraz badly butchered his attempt dropping his Babolat racquet to the court in disgust handing the former No. 1 set point.
The world No. 121 showed stubborn resolve and fast feet defending a full-stretch forehand and watching Alcaraz dump a drop shot into net as the hard-charging wild card took the second set waving his racquet in triumph.
The 2009 finalist broke to start the decider then withstood severe stress navigating a deuce hold to consolidate.
An inspired Murray streaked out of the shadow of the doubles alley and saw the light cracking a crosscourt running forehand holding for 3-1.
Punishing rallies played in swelter did not faze the 34-year-old Briton, who was quick off the mark and showed sharp control on the full-stretch to extend rallies at times. Alcaraz cracked in the fifth game clanking his third double fault as Murray broke for a 4-1 lead after two hours and 41 minutes.
Down 1-4, a sliding Alcaraz tore through his white Nike shoe and sock on the sandpaper surface while calling a not-up on himself. Alcaraz took off the battered shoe to show chair umpire Mohamed Lahyani the bloody cut on his foot prompting a medical timeout. Murray shrugged off the break in action and carved out the backhand dropper holding for 5-1.
Murray closed in style slamming an ace out wide for set point then sifting a serve-and-volley winner to cap a highly-entertaining three hour, three-minute fight. Next up for Murray is third-seeded Alexander Zverev, who defeated American Jenson Brooksby 6-4, 3-6, 6-1.