Alcaraz earns Marozsan revenge, reaches Indian Wells QFs

Carlos Alcaraz ensured there was no deja vu Tuesday for Fabian Marozsan at the BNP Paribas Open, where the second seed earned a 6-3, 6-3 victory to avenge last year’s Rome loss to the Hungarian.

The defending champion secured his 50th match win at ATP Masters 1000 level with aggression from the baseline, producing heavy firepower to rush the 24-year-old and advance to the quarter-finals after one hour, 15 minutes.  

"Honestly I was nervous before the match, I'm not going to lie," Alcaraz said. "Playing against someone who beat you easily — I remember I had no chances in the match in Rome. It was difficult for me today to approach the match, but I'm really happy with the way that I did.

"I started pretty well, playing my style since the beginning. Today I knew what I had to do better than I did in Rome."

From 2-3 in the opening set, Alcaraz rattled off four straight games to gain a one-set advantage on the World No. 58. The 20-year-old attacked Marozsan's second serve and varied his return position, sometimes standing on the baseline waiting to prowl and other times retreating close to the back wall. A four-time Masters 1000 champion, Alcaraz won 62 per cent of his second serve return points.

A fearless Alcaraz even hammered a 105 mph forehand winner in the seventh game of the second set, shortly after erasing Marozsan's two break points.

"After a great first set, it was time to keep going, keep pushing in the second set. Trying to break as soon as possible and be up in the score," Alcaraz said. "Don't let him play his style on the court, that's what I was thinking and I think I did pretty well."

Most ATP Masters 1000 match wins before turning 21

Boasting a 9-3 season record, Alcaraz improved to 1-1 in his Lexus ATP Head2Head series with Marozsan, who defeated the two-time major champion in straight sets as a qualifier last year in Rome.

The Spaniard will next meet sixth seed Alexander Zverev, who rallied past 10th seed Alex de Minaur 5-7, 6-2, 6-3. Zverev leads Alcaraz 5-3 in their Lexus ATP Head2Head series.

A 12-time tour-level titlist, Alcaraz is aiming for his first trophy since Wimbledon. Alcaraz has won nine straight matches at the Indian Wells Tennis Garden, where he is into the quarter-finals for the third consecutive year.

Ripping forehands 🔄 🎾

Last time they played the @carlosalcaraz Forehand #ShotQuality was 📉 at 6.9

Today, is was 📈 at 9️⃣.5️⃣ 🔥#TennisInsights | @atptour | @BNPPARIBASOPEN pic.twitter.com/bqTSXzvDjx

— Tennis Insights (@tennis_insights) March 13, 2024

Zverev prevailed against De Minaur in a Top 10 showdown to end the Australian's seven-match winning streak and reach the Indian Wells quarter-finals for the second time. Despite committing 25 unforced errors in the opening set, the German quickly recovered as both players battled for court positioning and seamlessly made transitions from defence to offence.

The 21-time tour-level titlist played 37 more points on serve, fighting off eight of 11 break points faced to improve to 7-2 in his Lexus ATP Head2Head series with De Minaur.

"I don't remember having a better match in wind than I did today," said Zverev, who notched his 50th Top 10 win. "When you're down a set and a break, you have to figure it out if you're going to continue or you're going to be off the court in 20 minutes. I had to play differently from both sides and I managed it well today."

Active players with 50+ wins versus Top 10 opponents

Earlier in the day, Jiri Lehecka was dominant in ousting 11th seed Stefanos Tsitsipas 6-2, 6-4 to reach his first ATP Masters 1000 quarter-final. The 22-year-old struck his forehand with conviction and dropped just five points behind his first delivery to oust the Greek, who failed to convert any of his four break points.

“My aggressive kind of style helped me today to help in crucial moments," said Lehecka, who crushed 22 winners to Tsitsipas’ eight. "I'm super happy about it… To play against these kinds of players is always a big challenge and I knew it would be super hard. I lost two of our previous matches.”