Alcaraz blasts Paul, Medvedev cruises to Miami

Carlos Alcaraz, world number one, romped into the quarter-finals at the ATP Miami Open. He defeated Tommy Paul 6-4, 6-4 on Tuesday. Second seed Stefanos Tsitsipas fell to Karen Khachanov.

Alcaraz (defending Miami champion) will take on Taylor Fritz in the eight-man final.

Paul arrived at the match having won 12 matches with Spanish players, which included wins over Rafael Nadal in 2013 and Alcaraz in 2014. However, he could not get a foothold during the contest.

The victory was the ninth consecutive for the 19-year old Spaniard. He delighted South Florida fans with his strong strokes from the baseline, and his readiness to move forward.

Alcaraz said, “I moved well, defended well, and counter-attacked. If I play at that level, I will have a lot more chances to get through.”

“I feel at home here. With all the energy and enthusiasm I get every day, it is easy to enjoy Miami.

Tsitsipas was forced to wait a week before his first Miami match. He beat Chilean Cristian Garin on Monday but fell to Khachanov 7-6 (7/4), 6-6, 6-4.

In recent weeks, the shoulder injury has caused problems for the Greek. However, Khachanov won his six-match losing streak against Tsitsipas as well as his 23-match winless streak against top ten opponents.

His serve was reliable throughout and broke Tsitsipas’ serve to love in the fifth game of the second set and kept his cool to see out the win.

“Both of us were serving pretty well in the first set… Then I took it to the tie-break, and in the second set as soon as the opportunity came, I had to take it,” he said.

In a clash of top-10 players, American Fritz defeated Denmark’s Holger Rune 6-3, 6-4 to reach to the last eight in Miami for the first time in his career.

Fritz, who won at Delray Beach last month, beat Emilio Nava and Denis Shapovalov in straight sets before Tuesday’s encounter and he was pleased with the way he was able to go on the attack.

“I could not play aggressively in my two first matches because my opponents were hitting every single ball as hard as possible,” Fritz said. Fritz shared that although (Rune still crushes balls), Fritz felt it was better to have some time.

“The first round was difficult to play, so I had to just make balls. Today was the day I could be aggressive. I didn’t want to give him too many free points.

Mannarino is evicted by Eubanks

Fritz will be joined by Christopher Eubanks (compatriot), who beat Adrian Mannarino of France 7-6 (7/2), and 7-6 (7/5).

The rain delayed the match for approximately four hours. Eubanks, ranked at 119th world, was 4-2 up in set one. After play was resumed, Mannarino was able force a tie-break and lost to the American.

The second set was even, but Eubanks won the tie-breaker once more to reach the Masters 1000 quarter-finals for his first time in his professional career.

Eubanks, 26, who has already passed Miami’s qualifiers, has won six straight games and will be entering the top 100 world rankings.

Eubanks will now face Daniil Medvedev, world number five after Quentin Halys was comfortably defeated by Quentin Eubanks. The match started at midnight after a four-hour rain delay.

Italian Jannik Sinner also advanced to the last eight without dropping a set and he was in firm control from the outset against Russian sixth seed Andrey Rublev, winning 6-2, 6-4.

Sinner, who has never failed to reach the quarters in his three appearances in Miami, will face Emil Ruusuvuori after the Finn beat Dutchman Botic van de Zandschulp 4-6, 6-4, 7-5.

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