Alcaraz and Wozniacki roll through to Indian Wells quarter-finals with wins
World No 2 Carlos Alcaraz raced into the quarter-finals of the BNP Paribas Open with a straight-sets win over Fabian Marozsan in Indian Wells. The Spaniard, bidding to become the first player to defend the title since Novak Djokovic in 2016, won 6-3, 6-3 in an hour and a quarter.
Hungarian Marozsan, 24, came into the match with a rare winning head-to-head record against Alcaraz, having beaten him on the Rome clay last year in their only previous meeting, one of the shock results of the season.
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The Wimbledon champion quickly went about taking his revenge, winning four games in a row from 3-2 down to take the first set. A solitary break for 4-2 in the second proved enough to wrap up the match and book a last-eight meeting with Alexander Zverev.
“Honestly I was nervous before the match, playing against someone who beat you, let’s say easily, it was difficult for me to approach the game,” Alcaraz said in his on-court interview. “But I’m happy with the win. Today I knew better what I needed to do than in Rome.” Zverev took down Australian Alex de Minaur after he lost the first set before coming back to win 5-7, 6-2, 6-3.
Australian Open champion Jannik Sinner continued his stellar start to the year, recording his 18th straight win in a victory over American Ben Shelton 7-6 (4), 6-1. Stefanos Tsitsipas, the 11th seed from Greece, was on the end of an upset as he slipped to a 6-2, 6-4 defeat to Czech youngster Jiri Lehecka.
In the women’s singles draw world No 1 Iga Swiatek will take on former world No 1 Caroline Wozniacki in the quarter-finals after taking little more than an hour to beat Kazakhstan’s Yulia Putintseva in straight sets 6-1, 6-2. Wozniacki, from Denmark, defeated three-time grand slam winner Angelique Kerber in 90 minutes 6-4, 6-2, advancing to her first WTA 100 quarter-final since 2019 after returning to the tour.
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After her match, Wozniacki said she will have to play her “best tennis to compete” with Swiatek. “I think I have obviously commentated some of her matches,” she said. “I know how she’s playing. Obviously she’s playing good tennis, playing powerfully. I practised with her as well a few times after I have come back, during the US Open as well. I know how she plays, but it’s one thing knowing how she plays and also playing against her in a full match.”
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Swiatek said she has great respect for Wozniacki. “I think she’s playing great even after the maternity break. She was fighting to come back. I have huge respect. I’m going to prepare like any other, but off the court she’s a great person.”
Ukrainian Marta Kostyuk defeated Russian Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova 6-4, 6-1, while Russian Anastasia Potapova defeated Italian Jasmine Paolini 7-5, 0-6, 6-3.