Carlos Alcaraz took his winning streak at the ATP Masters 1000 tournament to 14 successive matches with a convincing win over Denis Shapovalov on Tuesday (IST).
The Spaniard posted a straight-set victory, 6-2, 6-4, and moved into the fourth round of the Indian Wells Open. Two-time defending champion has lost only two sets in this run. He saved three of his four break chances and converted four out of eight, as reported by ATP Stats.
Shapovalov arrived in the tournament with a solid 10-4 season record, including his first win at an ATP 500 title in Dallas this February. However, Alcaraz was in total command, defeating the Canadian in 83 minutes while allowing just six games.
Alcaraz exploded out of the blocks, taking a 5-0 lead in the opening set. Although Shapovalov started to find some rhythm, the new Dallas Open champion never really threatened the Spaniard. The highest-seeded player remaining in the tournament sealed the victory in one hour and 24 minutes, according to ATP.
"I know that he began the season very strong, playing very good tennis with the victory in Dallas, playing well in Acapulco, so I knew that I had to begin the match very strong, very focused on my stuff, on the level," Alcaraz revealed in his post-match interview. "Try to play good tennis, good rallies at the start just to have the good rhythm, to enter the match.". I could see that it was going to be a great and tough fight, so just really pleased with how I began the match," he said.
The second-seeded Spaniard, seeking his sixth ATP Masters 1000 title, will next play 14th seed Grigor Dimitrov.
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