Two-time defending champion Carlos Alcaraz needed just 93 minutes to win his third-round match at the BNP Paribas Open, beating Denis Shapovalov 6-2, 6-4 on Monday in Indian Wells, Calif.
Alcazar, who is seeded second, saved three of the four break points he faced. The Spaniard won 64 percent on the second serve of Shapovalov, who was seeded 27th.
Alcaraz won the match’s first five games to cruise through the opening set, and he got the lone service break of the second set for a 4-3 lead.
Alcaraz said of his Canadian foe, “I know he started the season really strong, showing really good tennis with the title in Dallas, playing good tennis in Acapulco, so I knew that I had to start the match really strong, really focused on my things, on the level. Try to play good tennis, good rallies at the beginning just to get the good pace, to come into the match.
“I saw that it was going to be a really good and difficult battle, so just really happy with the way that I started the match.”
Although he won 12 of 18 games, the same as he did in his prior match against France’s Quentin Halys, Alcaraz was more pleased with his latest effort.
“Nerves are a good thing, but today I didn’t feel as much nerves as I did in the (second) round,” he said. “Today I was more relaxed, I was calm, so I could think much better. … So hopefully it will continue like this.”
Alcaraz’s next opponent will be 14th-seeded Grigor Dimitrov of Bulgaria, who edged France’s Gael Monfils 7-6 (4), 4-6, 7-6 (2).
The event’s most recent champion before Alcaraz, Taylor Fritz, came from behind to win his third-round match 4-6, 6-3, 6-1 over 30th-seeded Alejandro Tabilo of Chile. Fritz, a Southern California native who is seeded third, wound up with a 12-3 edge in aces and won 80 percent of his first-serve points.
Ninth-seeded Alex de Minaur of Australia downed 21st-seeded Hubert Hurkacz of Poland 6-4, 6-0. Eleventh-seeded Ben Shelton of the United States topped 22nd-seeded Karen Khachanov of Russia 6-3, 7-5, and 13th-seeded Jack Draper of Great Britain ousted the United States’ Jenson Brooksby 7-5, 6-4.
Argentina’s Francisco Cerundolo, the 25th seed, dumped Dutch lucky loser Botic van de Zandschulp 6-3, 6-4, and 32nd-seeded Brandon Nakashima of the United States thrashed Italy’s Matteo Arnaldi 6-2, 6-4.
–Field Level Media
