2WPR87X Carlos Alcaraz, of Spain, reacts after scoring a point against Matteo Arnaldi, of Italy, at the BNP Paribas Open tennis tournament in Indian Wells, Calif., Friday, March 8, 2024. (AP Photo/Ryan Sun)
The second seed In third-round action at the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells, California, on Sunday, Carlos Alcaraz of Spain maintained his dominance by easily defeating Felix Auger-Aliassime, the 31st-seeded Canadian, 6-2, 6-3. Alcaraz won his ninth consecutive match at Indian Wells after taking the final five games of the opening set and the first two of the second. Having defeated Russia’s Daniil Medvedev in the tournament final the previous year, he is the event’s reigning winner. Alcaraz had the impression that he was in control the whole Sunday game. “I believe that he didn’t score very many points off his serves. I believe helives with his serve,” Auger-Aliassime was remarked by Alcaraz. “I played the point on nearly every return. I sensed
Playing the point at every return in. I thought it went well because I was putting some solid points on the floor and I felt better than him from the baseline. I believe it was practically a great match for me since I played aggressively and made less mistakes. Alcaraz prevailed in 13 of the 32 first-serve points during the match. A mere five winners were posted by Auger-Aliassime. On his first serve, he won 19 of 35 points. The next round will see Alcaraz take on Italian Fabian Marozsan. On Sunday, Marozsan defeated Brazilian qualifier Thiago Seyboth Wild 6-2, 6-2. No. 3 seed Jannik Sinner, another Italian, also triumphed in
in three sets, eliminating the 25th-seeded German Jan-Lennard Struff 6-3 and 6-4. Sinner is astride
straight sets, eliminating German player Jan-Lennard Struff, ranked 25th. 6-3 and 6-4. Sinner had won 17 straight games at this point. Sinner, who had 27 winners, said, “I tried to take some confidence and obviously tried to serve very well under pressure, which I (did) very well (Sunday).” Other winners were Greece’s Stefanos Tsitsipas, ranked No. 11, and Australia’s Alex de Minaur, ranked No. 10. No. 20 seed Alexander Bublik of Kazakhstan was defeated 7-5, 6-0 by de Minaur, and No. 18 seed Frances Tiafoe of the United States was defeated 6-3, 6-3 by Tsitsipas. Later on Sunday, Czech Republic’s Jiri Lehecka, ranked 32nd, defeated Russia’s Andrey Rublev, ranked fifth, 6-4, 6
