Alcaraz cruises into quarterfinals
Men’s No. 2 earns 101st ATP Tour victory. Gauff, Swiatek also win at Indian Wells.
Carlos Alcaraz is three victories away from returning to the world’s top ranking, having reached the quarterfinals of the BNP Paribas Open at Indian Wells on Tuesday.
Alcaraz, ranked No. 2, advanced when Jack Draper retired with the Spaniard leading 6-2, 2-0 after 46 minutes of play. It was Alcaraz’s 101st ATP Tour victory.
“I would say I returned well, I hit great shots,” Alcaraz said. “I finished the match with confidence in my shots, to come into the next round with more confidence.”
Draper was affected by an abdominal injury. The injury hampered his serve, which dropped well below 100 mph, and his movement. A trainer visited him between sets and Draper won just one point in the first two games of the second set before quitting.
Top-ranked Iga Swiatek moved on with a 6-3, 6-1 victory over Emma Raducanu.
Coco Gauff rallied from a break down in the third set to beat Swedish qualifier Rebecca Peterson, 6-3, 1-6, 6-4 and reach the quarterfinals.
Down 2-4, Gauff fought back and saved three break points while serving at 4-all before closing out the match in the next game.
Four years ago, Peterson routed a 14-year-old Gauff at a Challenger tournament in Michigan.
“She whooped me really bad,” Gauff said on court. “I think today was really a mental thing, just staying in the match. I wasn’t playing my best in some moments and I wasn’t serving as well as I’d like to, but I think that my mentality kept me in.”
The sixth-seeded American
next plays No. 2 seed Aryna Sabalenka, who beat 16th-seeded Barbora Krejcikova, 6-3, 2-6, 6-4.
No. 3 Jessica Pegula lost to 15th-seeded Petra Kvitova 6-2, 3-6, 7-6 (11) after the American blew four match points
Sorana Cirstea took out No. 5 Caroline Garcia 6-4, 4-6, 7-5, No. 7 Maria Sakkari beat 17th-seeded Karolina Pliskova 6-4, 5-7, 6-3, and No. 10 Elena Rybakina defeated Varvara Gracheva 6-3, 6-0.
On the men’s side, defending champion Taylor Fritz moved into the quarters with a 6-4, 6-3 win over Marton Fucsovics.
No. 5 Daniil Medvedev overcame a swollen right ankle and outlasted 12thseeded Alexander Zverev, 6-7 (5), 7-6 (5), 7-5.
Zverev added to the drama by saving a match point and breaking for 5-5 in the final set. Medvedev broke right back and went on to win.
He next plays Spain’s Alejandro Davidovch Fokina, who beat Cristian Garin 6-3, 6-4.
No. 10 Cameron Norrie beat sixth-seeded Andrey Rublev, 6-2, 6-4 and will face Frances Tiafoe.