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

In his 50th victory in Masters 1,000 tournaments, Carlos Alcaraz He had a sweet revenge this Tuesday against the Hungarian Fábián Marozsán to advance to the Indian Wells quarterfinals, where he will clash against the German Alexander Zverevwith whom he also has pending accounts and went back to the Australian Alex De Miñaur.

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

With this background in mind, Alcaraz exhibited almost seamless tennis on Tuesday to defeat Marozsán by a double 6-3 in 77 minutes of play.

The Spaniard patiently waited for his opportunity to break the Hungarian’s serve and, once he managed to advance 4-3, he freed himself to display his devastating game with up to 24 winners.

“I was nervous before the game, I’m not going to lie”Alcaraz acknowledged. “Last year I didn’t know much about Fábián. He had only seen some of his best plays.”

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

At 20 years old, Alcaraz has accumulated 50 wins in his 66 matches in Masters 1,000 tournaments, the second highest category below the Grand Slams.

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

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

In his third straight 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 the head-to-head with the Spaniard (5-3) with a last and sensitive victory in January in the quarterfinals of the Australian Open, the first Grand Slam of the year.

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

Zverev, sixth seed, recovered from a first set down against the Australian Alex De Miñaur (tenth), until defeating him 5-7, 6-2 and 6-3.

“I am the worst player with wind”Zverev said of Tuesday’s conditions in the Californian desert. “You don’t feel your hits. But I managed and found a way, that’s the most important thing.”

The first match of the round of 16 marked a new disappointment for the Greek Stefanos Tsitsipas in the Coachella Valley when he fell to the Czech Jiri Lehecka 6-2, 6-4.

Tsitsipas, eleventh in the world ranking and with two Masters 1000 trophies in his cabinet, still has not made it past the quarterfinals in Indian Wells.

Lehecka, 22, will play his first quarterfinal of a Masters 1000 against the winner of the clash between the local gem Ben Shelton, semifinalist of the last United States Open, and Jannik Sinner, champion of the Australian Open in January and strong candidate to lift his first Indian Wells trophy.

In the WTA 1000, the Polish Iga Swiatek appeared on stage in the last match of the program against the Kazakh Yulia Putintseva.

Swiatek, the leader of the circuit, remains firmly on the road to her second title although she is keeping an eye on the trajectory of the second and third seeds, Aryna Sabalenka and Coco Gauff, who will compete on Wednesday.

The Russian Anastasia Potapova was the first player to qualify for the quarterfinals with a morning victory against the Italian Jasmine Paolini 7-5, 0-6 and 6-3.

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

In the afternoon there was one of the most anticipated duels of the round of 16, between the Danish Caroline Wozniacki and the German Angelique Kerber, two former number ones who are back on the circuit after their motherhood.

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

Carlos Alcaraz (ESP/N.2) over Fábián Marozsa (HUN) 6-3, 6-3

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

Jannik Sinner (ITA/N.3) vs Ben Shelton (USA/N.16), por jugar

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

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

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

Iga Swiatek (POL/N.1) vs Yulia Putintseva (KAZ), por jugar