Carlos Alcaraz on Sunday swatted aside Serbian Dusan Lajovic 6-0, 7-6 (7/5) to keep his title defense on track at the Miami Open, as Canada’s Bianca Andreescu cruised past the US’ Sofia Kenin in straight sets.
Spain’s teen phenom won Indian Wells to retake the top ranking last week, and kept the momentum going at Hard Rock Stadium as he fired off 26 winners to set up a fourth-round meeting with Australian Open semi-finalist Tommy Paul.
“I always think that you have to go for it,” he told the Tennis Channel. “That’s what I told myself in [those] tough moments.”
Photo: AFP
Lajovic stunned three-times Grand Slam winner Andy Murray in the first round, but never hit his stride on Sunday, letting his only break point chance slip through his fingers in the first set as the US Open winner put on a near-flawless performance.
Alcaraz converted on a break point in the third game of the second set with an expertly placed forehand winner.
However, he helped Lajovic to a break in the 10th game with a handful of uncharacteristic errors.
Lajovic refused to go down without a fight, fending off three match points in the tiebreak, but Alcaraz never lost his nerve and clinched it with a blistering backhand winner before pumping his fist triumphantly.
“Everything was under control,” said Alcaraz, who greeted the Miami Heat’s six-time NBA All-Star Jimmy Butler courtside after the match.
“But end of match is never easy,” he said. “The nerves came out. I made a few mistakes that I didn’t do around the whole match. So it was tough to win.”
Former US Open champion Andreescu harnessed her mighty serve to topple Kenin 6-4, 6-4, sending over seven aces as the 2020 Australian Open winner failed to mount much of a defense after an early exit from Indian Wells.
The swift affair was welcome reprieve for Andreescu after lengthy battles against first and second-round opponents Emma Raducanu and world nMaria Sakkari, with Ekaterina Alexandrova waiting in the round of 16.
“I definitely enjoy the challenge,” she said in a televised interview. “These victories are definitely very sweet, and I’ve had many tough matches against Sofia.”
Tallon Griekspoor on Friday stunned top seed Alexander Zverev 4-6, 7-6 (7/5), 7-6 (7/4) in the second round at Indian Wells, avenging a devastating loss to the German at Roland Garros last year. Zverev, the world No. 2 who is heading the field of the prestigious ATP Masters event with No. 1 Jannik Sinner serving a three-month drugs ban, is the first Indian Wells men’s top seed to lose his opening match since Andy Murray in 2017. It was a cherished win for Griekspoor, who had lost five straight matches — including four last year — to the German. That included a five-setter
Five-time champion Novak Djokovic on Saturday tumbled out of the Indian Wells ATP Masters, falling in his first match to lucky loser Botic van de Zandschulp as two-time defending champion Carlos Alcaraz advanced. “No excuses for a poor performance,” 24-time Grand Slam champion Djokovic said after 37 unforced errors in a 6-2, 3-6, 6-1 defeat. “It doesn’t feel great when you play this way on the court,” he said. “But congratulations to my opponent — just a bad day in the office, I guess, for me.” Djokovic is just the latest in Van de Zandschulp’s string of superstar victims. He
Paris Saint-Germain on Tuesday held their nerve to beat Liverpool 4-1 on penalties and reach the UEFA Champions League quarter-finals after their tie finished one-apiece on aggregate, while Bayern Munich saw off Bayer 04 Leverkusen to complete a 5-0 win over both legs. Lamine Yamal and Raphinha fired Barcelona into the next round as the Catalans bested SL Benfica 3-1, and Inter booked a last-eight meeting with Bayern by seeing off Feyenoord 2-1. At Anfield, Ousmane Dembele netted the only goal of the night as PSG bounced back from Liverpool’s late winner last week to force the tie to extra-time and penalties. Maligned
The Taoyuan Pauian Pilots last night lost their East Asia Super League (EASL) championship game against Japan’s Hiroshima Dragonflies 72-68. They on Friday secured Taiwan’s first-ever spot in an EASL final with a 71-64 comeback victory over Japan’s Ryukyu Golden Kings. In what the EASL official Web site described as an “upset,” Pilots forward Lu Chun-hsiang on Friday asserted his stardom in Macau by scoring a game-high 24 points, with four players in both teams reaching double figures. The win was also the first time a Taiwanese franchise has defeated a Japanese team in the EASL Final Four. “I was moved
RSS