Indian Wells (United States) (AFP) – Carlos Alcaraz reached the Indian Wells quarter-finals for a fifth straight year with a sparkling 6-1, 7-6 (7/2) victory over Casper Ruud on Wednesday, extending his perfect start to 2026. World number one Alcaraz, who lifted the trophy in the prestigious ATP Masters 1000 in the California desert in 2023 and 2024, was untouchable in the first set, conjuring winners of every angle to every corner of the court. A pair of unlikely lob winners had fans gasping in the third game, and he made it 4-0 with a high backhand volley winner that Ruud couldn’t reach.
“My first set, I think I was unplayable to be honest,” Alcaraz said. “I was really, really happy about playing at that level.” Ruud stepped it up in the second set, but even he could only smile when Alcaraz seized a 5-1 lead in the tiebreaker with another leaping backhand volley, the Spaniard closing proceedings fittingly with a backhand winner.
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“The conditions were difficult, to be honest,” said Alcaraz, who played in chillier night weather in his tough three-set win over Arthur Rinderknech in the third round. “(It was) really hot …the ball was tough to control. It comes super-fast, it bounces super-high. But I think we played great, both of us.”
Alcaraz, 22, became the youngest man to complete a career Grand Slam with his victory at the Australian Open. He followed that up with the Qatar Open title and with three wins under his belt in Indian Wells is now 15-0 on the season. Alcaraz will face 29th-ranked Briton Cameron Norrie for a place in the semi-finals after Norrie beat Australian qualifier Rinki Hijikata 6-4, 6-2.
Norrie won the Indian Wells title in 2021, when the tournament was pushed to October amid the Covid-19 pandemic. The experienced Briton elected to receive in the first game and took advantage of a nervy start from 117th-ranked Hijikata to gain the lone break of the opening set. Hijikata settled in on serve, but Norrie saved the only break point he faced to pocket the set and broke twice in the second to polish off a stress-free victory.
Later Wednesday, five-time champion Novak Djokovic seeks his first Indian Wells quarter-final appearance since his last title run in 2016 when he takes on defending champion Jack Draper. Djokovic, playing his first tournament since falling to Alcaraz in the Australian Open final, has had to battle through a pair of three-setters to reach the fourth round for the first time in nine years.
In Draper, he faces a player on the comeback trail. The Briton’s Indian Wells triumph last year launched his rise to fourth in the world. But he then missed the better part of six months with an arm injury and arrived for his title defense ranked 14th. The winner of that match will take on 11th-ranked Russian Daniil Medvedev, a two-time Indian Wells finalist who beat 21-year-old American Alex Michelsen 6-2, 6-4.
© 2024 AFP
