Alcaraz, Sinner Advance to Quarterfinals at Indian Wells

(March 12, 2024) INDIAN WELLS TENNIS GARDEN, California – No. 2 seed Carlos Alcaraz avenged an Italian Open loss to Fabian Marozsan, winning 6-3, 6-3 on Tuesday to reach the quarterfinals of the BNP Paribas Open as the top remaining seed in the men’s draw. On Monday, the top seed Novak Djokovic lost to no. 123 Luca Nardi.

“Honestly, I was nervous before the match. I’m not going to lie,” Alcaraz said after the match. “Playing against someone that beat you. … Today I knew what I had to do.”

“Let’s say almost perfect(match),” the 20-year-old Spaniard said to media. “I always say I can be better, can play better. But really happy with the way that I approach the match, the way that I played, and my feelings.

“You know, I think I moved well. I controlled very well the timing of the match. In the toughest points, toughest moments, breakpoints down, breakpoints up, I managed very well that timing. Yeah, my confidence is getting higher.”

So what is the perfect match for the two-time major champion?

“Well, no mistakes and almost every point winner, ” he said smiling.

“No, but I’m kidding. Let’s say as less mistakes as you can. You know, not missing every breakpoint up, for example. A high percentage of first serve. I’m gonna say that could be a perfect match.”

II think the conditions here suits very well to my game,” he said. “I feel really comfortable in this court, in this tournament. I feel really well. Not only on the court, off the court as well. I think it’s really important for the players to feel relaxed, to feel calm or feeling really well, you know, off the court. Turn off your mind a little bit, not think about tennis 100% of the time.

“Here there are — well, not a lot of things — but things we can do off the court. For me, it relax me very, very well. For me it’s playing golf. I can do it here very well and too much.

“I love playing these courts I think all these years — well, over these years. The last three years I have been playing great tennis here. Yeah, I think, yeah, in this tournament gave me an extra motivation and extra confident.”

Alcaraz will face No. 6 seed Alexander Zverev for a place in the semifinals.

Australian Open winner Jannick Sinner has now won 18 straight matches on tour. Sinner eked out a first set tiebreak and dominated the second set to beat young American Ben Shelton 7-6, 6-1 in the round of 16.

“I never take things granted,” Sinner said of his streak.” I mean, every tournament, every match you go on court trying to do your best, trying to stay mentally focused. That’s what I try to do.

“Every day there’s a different opponent. Today was not only a different opponent but, you know, lefty, he’s serving incredibly well.

“I’m looking forward for these kind of challenges. The next match is also a challenge. I don’t know my opponent. So we played, like, five years ago somewhere. I don’t even remember, so because they told me, I know. And then we see what’s happening, no?

“He’s playing incredibly well. I have to be very focused from the first point, and hopefully I can show some good tennis.”

The 22-year-old Italian will play to play Jiri Lehecka of the Czech Republic, who was a 6-2, 6-4 upset winner over Stefanos Tsitsipas.

 “I think were many important points, especially in the first set,” noted Sinner. “Even before the tiebreak I had to save some breakpoints quite early on. I was up in the tiebreak. Made couple of mistakes. Then he played a really good point at 4-1, and, you know, these are all points which are really, really important.

“Happy about the first set, how I reacted. Yeah, let’s see what’s coming the next round.”