Indian Wells: Alcaraz tops Marozsan for third consecutive quarter finals

Carlos Alcaraz ensured there was no deja vu Tuesday for Fabian Marozsan at the BNP Paribas Open, where the second seed earned a 6-3, 6-3 victory to avenge last year’s Rome loss to the Hungarian.e

The defending champion secured his 50th match win at ATP Masters 1000 level with aggression from the baseline, producing heavy firepower to rush the 24-year-old and advance to the quarter-finals after one hour, 15 minutes.

“Honestly I was nervous before the match, I’m not going to lie,” Alcaraz said. “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.”

“After a great first set, it was time to keep going, keep pushing in the second set. Trying to break as soon as possible and be up in the score,” Alcaraz said. “Don’t let him play his style on the court, that’s what I was thinking and I think I did pretty well.”

The Spaniard will next meet sixth seed Alexander Zverev, who rallied past 10th seed Alex de Minaur 5-7, 6-2, 6-3. Zverev leads Alcaraz 5-3 in their Lexus ATP Head2Head series.

A 12-time tour-level titlist, Alcaraz is aiming for his first trophy since Wimbledon. Alcaraz has won nine straight matches at the Indian Wells Tennis Garden, where he is into the quarter-finals for the third consecutive year.

Earlier in the day, Jiri Lehecka was dominant in ousting 11th seed Stefanos Tsitsipas 6-2, 6-4 to reach his first ATP Masters 1000 quarter-final.

Jannik Sinner continued his perfect 2024 season and extended his overall winning streak to 18 matches with a mature performance against home favourite Ben Shelton on Tuesday night at the BNP Paribas Open.

The 22-year-old earned his 150th hard-court tour-level win (150-46), becoming the first player born since 2000 to reach that milestone secured a 7-6(4), 6-1 Victor and will next face Jiri Lehecka.