Andy Murray rallied past Spanish teenager Carlos Alcaraz to reach the third round at the Indian Wells Masters.

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Murray, who has tipped Alcaraz as a future world number one, defeated the talented 18-year-old 5-7, 6-3, 6-2 to set up a meeting with third-seeded German Alexander Zverev, who held off American young gun Jenson Brooksby 6-4, 3-6, 6-1.

Murray, currently down at No 121 in the ATP rankings, raced to an early 3-0 lead before Alcaraz – who reached the quarter-finals of the US Open last month – found his range and regained a break.

After saving a set point, Alcaraz broke Murray again to take the opening set.

In the second set, the former world number one deployed a rare underarm serve on game point for a 2-1 lead.

It was the catalyst for a stunning comeback win for the Scot, who had to rely on a wild card to get into the main draw.

He broke 30th-seeded Alcaraz to open the third set then saved four break points in the next game to maintain the advantage.

A second service break gave Murray a comfortable cushion, and it was the teen requiring late treatment on an injured foot before Murray sealed the victory after three hours and four minutes.

“He’s obviously got so much potential, so much firepower and these conditions it’s not easy to finish points off quickly, but he’s able to because he has so much pace from the back of the court,” Murray said in an on-court interview.

“So I had to fight extremely hard, coming back from a set down.

“I felt like in the second set he played maybe better. First set I felt like I had more of the opportunities but didn’t get it so yeah, happy with the way I fought.”

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Picture: Andy Murray – ATP Tour/Twitter

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