Second-seeded Carlos Alcaraz of Spain avenged an upset loss from last year while advancing to the quarterfinals of the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells, Calif.
Alcaraz, the reigning tournament champion, produced a 6-3, 6-3 victory over Hungary’s Fabian Marozsan in fourth-round action on Tuesday.
Marozsan topped Alcaraz 6-3, 7-6 (4) last year in the third round at Rome.
Alcaraz said after the match on Tuesday, “Honestly I was nervous before the match, I’m not going to lie. Playing against someone who beat you easily — I remember I had no chances in the match in Rome. It was difficult for me today to approach the match, but I’m really happy with the way that I did.
“I started pretty well, playing my style since the beginning. Today I knew what I had to do better than I did in Rome.”
In the rematch, Alcaraz won 84 percent of his first-serve points and saved both break points he faced. He also finished with a decisive 24-11 edge in winners.
Next up for Alcaraz will be a quarterfinal matchup with Alexander Zverev. The sixth-seeded German rallied past 10th-seeded Alex de Minaur of Australia 5-7, 6-2, 6-3.
After taking the first set, de Minaur broke serve to open the second set. However, Zverev immediately broke back before pulling away. Zverev converted five of his seven break opportunities and saved eight of the 11 break points he faced.
“I don’t remember having a better match in wind than I did today,” Zverev said. “When you’re down a set and a break, you have to figure it out if you’re going to continue, or you’re going to be off the court in 20 minutes. I had to play differently from both sides, and I managed it well today.”
On the same side of the draw, 32nd-ranked Jiri Lehecka of the Czech Republic routed 11th-seeded Stefanos Tsitsipas of Greece 6-2, 6-4.
Tsitsipas was sunk by poor serving, putting just 44 percent of his first serves in play and winning less than half of his second-serve points.
Lehecka’s quarterfinal foe will be the winner of the late Tuesday match between third-seeded Jannik Sinner of Italy and 16th-seeded Ben Shelton of the United States.
–Field Level Media
