Indian Wells, March 11 (IANS) Carlos Alcaraz won his 14th consecutive match at the ATP Masters 1000 event when he defeated Denis Shapovalov 6-2, 6-4 on Tuesday (IST) for a place in the fourth round at the Indian Wells Open.
The two-time defending champion Alcaraz has lost just two sets during his 14-match winning streak. He saved three of the four break points he faced and converted four of his eight opportunities, according to ATP Stats.
Shapovalov entered the tournament with an impressive 10-4 record on the season, including a run to his maiden ATP 500 title in Dallas in February. Yet Alcaraz was in full command, seeing off the Canadian in 83 minutes for the loss of just six games.
Alcaraz came flying out of the gate to take a 5-0 lead. Although Shapovalov found his game, the recent Dallas Open champion was never able to put the victor into difficulty and the highest-remaining seed in the tournament advanced in one hour and 24 minutes, ATP reports.
“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,” Alcaraz said in his on-court interview.
“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,” he added.
The second-seed Spaniard, trying to claim his sixth ATP Masters 1000 trophy, will next take on 14th seed Grigor Dimitrov.
–IANS
bc/ab
