Madrid Open 2022: 3 things that stood out in Andy Murray's win against Dominic Thiem

Andy Murray of Great Britain beat Dominic Thiem of Austria 6-3, 6-4 in the first round of the Madrid Open on Monday. It was Murray’s first win on clay in five years as Thiem continued to struggle after making a comeback from a wrist injury.

The match lasted for an hour and 42 minutes and Murray was the deserving winner. He will face Denis Shapovalov of Canada in the next round.

On that note, let’s take a look at three factors that stood out in Andy Murray's win over Dominic Thiem.

#1 Thiem struggled to time his forehands as Murray remained disciplined in his approach

Thiem failed to control his forehand from the beginning of the match and kept hitting shots well beyond the baseline. He hit three of his forehands long in the very first game and that trend continued throughout the match.

Murray, on the other hand, remained cautious in his approach and waited for the Austrian to commit mistakes. The Brit got his first break in the sixth game of the first set to lead 4-2. Thiem committed 12 unforced errors in the first six games of the match, with 10 of them coming off his forehand.

Murray also played some sumptuous drop shots off his backhand to drag Thiem to the net. The Austrian often found it difficult to chase those balls down from a deep court position.

#2 Murray served out the first set comfortably as Thiem struggled to make consistent returns

Andy Murray managed to hold on to his lead to win the first set 6-3. Thiem had a sniff in the ninth game of the first set with the Brit down 30-0, but ended up hitting his return long. This allowed Murray to regain momentum and he fired two aces to win the first set.

Murray won a whopping 87% of his first-serve points in the first set, with Thiem struggling to deal with the Brit's serve. The three-time Grand Slam champion fired nine aces in the match as his serve bailed him out of tricky situations.

#3 Thiem failed to play the big points well in the second set as Murray stayed solid

The Austrian struggled to keep his forehands in check throughout the match

Andy Murray again managed to break Thiem in the third game of the second set and it proved to be decisive. The Brit held his serve throughout the match as Thiem continued to struggle with unforced errors. Murray came to the net frequently in the second set to put Thiem under pressure and opted to serve-and-volley on a few occasions.

Thiem committed a few errors off his backhand too as he ended up with 33 unforced errors in the match. In comparison, Murray committed only 13 unforced errors in the match.