Swiss Indoors: Etcheverry defeats Murray in three hour marathon

Argentinian Tomas Martin Etcheverry advanced to the quarter-finals of the Swiss Indoors by defeating Andy Murray 6-7 (5), 6-3, 6-2 at the Halle Saint-Jacques in Basel on Wednesday evening.

With the win, Etcheverry is into his seventh ATP quarter-final of the year, having never made one prior to 2023. Murray, on the other hand, will be left wondering what he did wrong in a match where he produced some brilliant tennis.

Second set turning point

In typical Andy Murray style, the Brit was tenacious and left everything out on the court against Etcheverry. The first set was a gargantuan affair, with Murray nabbing it 7-6 (5) after well over an hour’s play.

However, the seventh game of the second set proved to be pivotal in Etcheverry’s victory, as the Argentinian hung on to his serve to remain a break ahead, despite significant pressure from Murray.

Both men were strong defending break points, with Murray saving eight of 12, and Etcheverry defending five of six. Overall, it was high quality tennis that the crowd in Basel were treated to, as Etcheverry struck 44 winners to 10 unforced errors, while Murray wasn’t far behind with 35 winners and 14 unforced errors.

Etcheverry, ranked No 32, will face the winner of the match between Dane Holger Rune, the top seed, and Argentinian Sebastian Baez in the quarter-finals of the Swiss Indoors Basel.

In the previous round of the Basel tournament, the Argentinian won against American Sebastian Korda, the No 8 seed (6-3, 1-6, 6-3). Murray, ranked No 40, beat German Yannick Hanfmann (7-5, 6-4) in the previous round of the Basel tournament.

Basel ATP500, other second-round results (Halle Saint-Jacques, EUR 2.196.000, most recent results first):

• Botic van de Zandschulp vs. Felix Auger-Aliassime
• Holger Rune vs. Sebastian Baez
• Dominic Stricker vs. Casper Ruud
• Nicolas Jarry vs. Ugo Humbert
• Taylor Fritz vs. Alexander Shevchenko
• Alex De Minaur vs. Tallon Griekspoor
• Hubert Hurkacz (4) beat Jan-Lennard Struff: 6-1, 6-4