Andy Murray lost to Aslan Karatsev in the final of the Sydney Tennis Classic 6-3, 6-2 as his two-year wait for an ATP title goes on.
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Aslan Karatsev beat Andy Murray in straight sets in the final of the Sydney Tennis Classic, an ATP 250 tennis event, on Saturday (January 15).
Karatsev beat Murray 6-3, 6-2, ensuring the Scotsman’s two-year wait for an ATP title carries on. However, it was the third title of the Russian’s career.
It also means he’s won three of the four finals he contested, the sole loss coming to Matteo Berrettini in Belgrade in 2021.
Coming into the final, Murray had been excellent while on serve. However in this match, Karatsev had him under the pump from the get go.
The Russian made very few errors and constantly pushed Murray onto the back foot. Murray had landed less than half of his serves in the first set, and lost it on the back of a double fault.
Karatsev had broken Murray twice in the first set; he carried that trend immediately as the second began, breaking him on the first chance.
But being broken again jolted Murray into life. He fought doggedly after that and even managed to break back to get a foothold into the match.
However, all this did was delay the inevitable. Karatsev found his way back into the match and easily won the second set as well.
“I’d like to congratulate Aslan on a fantastic week. I know he also arrived here late in Australia, he was recovering from COVID, so even more impressive to come back straight away and play at that level. Good job and all the best for the Aussie Open,” Murray said after receiving the runner-up trophy.
“I’d like to thank my team who are here for all of their help this week. It’s my first time back in the finals for three years, it’s been a long road to get back here but I couldn’t have done it without all of your help so thank you.
“… I’d also like to say thank you to everyone who put the event on, this is my first time in Sydney, you did a fantastic job. It’s not easy times just now to run events but I really enkoyed it so thanks so much to everyone for putting this event on.
“Finally, to all of you who came out to support tonight, what an amazing atmosphere to play in, thank you, it was so good.
“I’ve really missed playing in front of these sorts of crowds and these sorts of matches. Unfortunately the result didn’t go my way tonight but I’ll keep trying my best to come back and have more nights like this.”
