(Tennis news) Andy Murray’s unbeaten run at the Erste Bank Open in Vienna has finally come to an end at the hands of rising Spanish teenager Carlos Alcaraz who defeated the two time champion in Vienna 6-3 6-4 in a contest that lasted over two hours. The British tennis star defeated Hubert Hurkacz in the first round, thereby recording his first top 10 win and approached the match against Alcaraz confidently, having already defeated the Spaniard at Indian Wells.

However, Alcatraz has been in fine form at the Erste Bank Open, having already defeated British No 2 Dan Evans in the opening match and wanted revenge from Murray for the Indian Wells defeat. Both players seemed equally contested and went toe-to-toe for every point and the opening four games lasted 34 minutes. Murray struggled to hold onto his serve in the next game as Alcaraz struck back with his fifth break-point chance before leading 4-2. The Spaniard then went on to close the set with a further break of serve after 65 minutes.

At 34, Murray struggled to keep up with the pace and intensity as 18 year old Carlos Alcaraz subjected him to energy sapping rallies. The Spaniard overturned a deficit of 3-1 to level the second set 4-4 and took his chance on Murray’s serve to progress into the quarter-finals. After the match, Alcaraz said, "It's a great feeling to play against Andy Murray and to beat him. He played really, really well but I'm really happy with the performance today. Indian Wells was the first time I met Andy Murray on court so now I know a little bit more about Andy Murray on court, his game. I just tried to play aggressive, don't let him play his game."

Despite the defeat, Murray seemed relatively upbeat about his chances of going deeper in tournaments and improving his consistency. He said “I'm not going to keep losing in the second and third round of tournaments, I will get better and I will improve and I will break through in one week, or two weeks, or a few months. It will happen. I obviously would like it to be happening quicker than what it is. If I continue on that path and build up a little bit more consistency, be that little bit more clinical and a bit more ruthless, I will start winning more and have some deep runs, but it's tough."

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