Carlos Alcaraz took sweet revenge and will meet Zverev at the Masters 1,000 in Indian Wells

On his 50th Masters 1,000 tournament win, Carlos Alcaraz On Tuesday he got sweet revenge against the Hungarian Fábian Marozsán to advance to the quarterfinals of Indian Wells, where he will clash with the German Alexander Zverevwith whom he also has unfinished business and has returned to Australia Alex De Minaur.

In the competition in the California desert, the first Masters 1,000 of the year, the shocking elimination of Novak Djokovic before Italian Luca Nardinumber 123 of the ATP.

Last year Alcaraz had experienced a similar fiasco against Marozsán who, when he was then in 135th place in the ranking, had knocked out the Spaniard at the Masters 1,000 in Rome.

With this background in mind, Alcaraz displayed almost seamless tennis on Tuesday to beat Marozsán with a doubles 6-3 in 77 minutes of play.

The Spaniard waited patiently for the opportunity to break the Hungarian’s serve and, once he managed to advance to 4-3, he broke free to showcase his devastating game with a maximum of 24 winners.

“I was nervous before the match, I won’t lie”Alcaraz acknowledged. “Last year I didn’t know much about Fábián. I had only seen some of his best work.”

“Today I knew his game better and I knew what I had to do from the beginning to the last ball. And, obviously, I played better than in Rome,” he underlined.

At 20, Alcaraz has amassed 50 victories in his 66 matches in Masters 1,000 tournaments, the second-highest category after the Slams.

That crop has brought him four trophies so far, two in 2022 (Miami and Madrid) and two more in 2023 (Indian Wells and Madrid).

Only his compatriot Rafael Nadal won more than 1,000 Alcaraz Masters matches before turning 21, with 82 victories, while Djokovic was fewer with 48.

In his third consecutive quarterfinal at Indian Wells, Alcaraz will face a well-known rival, Alexander Zverev, with whom he has already fought four times in the last year.

The German dominates head-to-head with the Spaniard (5-3) with a final and delicate victory in January in the quarter-finals of the Australian Open, the first Slam of the year.

“If I play against Zverev, obviously we will try to improve what I did wrong in Australia, we will play at our level and not let him dominate the match,” Alcaraz told the press shortly before the German qualifier.

Zverev, seeded sixth, recovered a first set against the Australian Alex De Miñaur (tenth), to beat him 5-7, 6-2 and 6-3.

“I’m the worst player with the wind”Zverev spoke about Tuesday’s conditions in the Californian desert. “You don’t feel your shots. But I succeeded and I found the way, that’s the most important thing.”

The first match of the round of 16 marked another disappointment for Greek Stefanos Tsitsipas at Coachella Valley when he was defeated by Czech Jiri Lehecka 6-2, 6-4.

Tsitsipas, eleventh in the world ranking and with two Masters 1000 trophies under his belt, has not yet made it past the quarter-finals of Indian Wells.

Lehecka, 22 years old, will play his first quarter-final of a Masters 1000 against the winner of the clash between local jewel Ben Shelton, semi-finalist of the last United States Open, and Jannik Sinner, champion of the Australian Open in January and a strong candidate for the lifting his first Indian Wells trophy.

Mothers’ mourning among women

In WTA 1000, Poland’s Iga Swiatek appeared on stage in the last match of the program against Kazakhstan’s Yulia Putintseva.

Swiatek, the circuit’s leader, remains firmly on the path to her second title, even as she keeps an eye on the trajectory of second and third seeds, Aryna Sabalenka and Coco Gauff, who will compete on Wednesday.

Russian Anastasia Potapova was the first player to qualify for the quarterfinals by winning in the morning against Italian Jasmine Paolini 7-5, 0-6 and 6-3.

Potapova’s next obstacle will be Ukrainian Marta Kostyuk, who beat Russian Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova for the second time this month, this time 6-4, 6-1.

One of the most anticipated duels of the round of 16 took place in the afternoon, between Danish Caroline Wozniacki and German Angelique Kerber, two former number ones returning to the circuit after maternity leave.

All the results of the day

Round of 16:

Jirí Lehecka (CZE/N.32) defeated Stefanos Tsitsipas (GRE/N.11) 6-2, 6-4

Carlos Alcaraz (ESP/N.2) vs. Fábián Marozsán (HUN) 6-3, 6-3

Alexander Zverev (GER/N.6) vs. Alex De Minaur (AUS/N.10) 5-7, 6-2, 6-3

Jannik Sinner (ITA/N.3) vs. Ben Shelton (USA/N.16), to be played

Women (WTA 1000)

Round of 16:

Anastasia Potapova (RUS/N.28) defeated Jasmine Paolini (ITA/N.13) 7-5, 0-6, 6-3

Marta Kostyuk (UKR/N.31) beats Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova (RUS/N.22) 6-4, 6-1

Caroline Wozniacki (DEN) vs Angelique Kerber (GER), we play

Iga Swiatek (POL/N.1) vs. Yulia Putintseva (KAZ), to be played