Andy Murray was in dire straits against Alex de Minaur at the 2023 China Open in Beijing, but the Brit remained resilient, playing himself to three match points, but it wasn't enough.
Andy Murray was considered the underdog before this match because de Minaur has quietly had a really impressive season, with hard courts being his best surface. Murray had a decent season of his own, but there is still some doubt regarding his overall because it tends to vary a lot.
Initially, it seemed like de Minaur had the upper hand because he took the opening set comfortably 6-3. Murray paid the price for a slow start as de Minaur took an early 3-0 break and held it for the rest of the set. He was just more aggressive overall, and it worked out for him.
That kind of changed in the second set as both players struggled with their serves. Murray navigated all of that better, but the biggest difference is him stepping into the hard and actually tackling. He managed to do it on a relatively high level, and de Minaur served poorly, helping him win the set 7-5.
Murray was actually up earlier in that set but gave de Minaur a chance to fight back, which ultimately didn't come true. The final set opened with an early break chance for de Minaur, but Murray saved it. After that, the Brit stabilized nicely and kept pushing, eventually getting the break.
Both players served and played better, but Murray was pretty amazing. He was excellent on serve, giving himself plenty of free points, but also limited the errors, which wasn't the case for de Minaur. That was until what should have been the final game of the match. Murray served for the match but got broken.
He found himself in the tiebreak after that and was down 2-5 but rallied to take a 6-5, earning a third match point after not using two earlier at 5-3. It didn't matter, as he also missed that one to lose the tiebreak 6-8. The final score was 6-3, 5-7, 7-6(6) for de Minaur.
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