With an impeccable display to clear up any doubt, Carlos Alcaraz earned his ticket to the round of 16 at Indian Wells this Sunday, overcoming Canadian Felix Auger-Aliassime.
The number 2 in the world, with overwhelming tennis and without a trace of ankle problems, took this duel of the third round of the Californian desert tournament by 6-2 and 6-3, in one hour and 17 minutes against the number 31 in the ATP rankings.
Current champion of Indian Wells, the Spaniard will face the Hungarian Fábián Marozsán, who occupies the 58th position in the ranking, in the round of 16.
Marozsán gave the surprise in the second round against the Chilean Nicolás Jarry (no. 24) and beat the Brazilian Thiago Seyboth Wild (no. 65) this Sunday.
There is only one precedent between Alcaraz and Marozsán and it favors the Hungarian, who in 2023 amazingly eliminated the player from El Palmar in the third round of the Rome Masters 1,000.
Called to be one of the young tennis players to take over from the golden era of Rafa Nadal, Novak Djokovic and Roger Federer, Auger-Aliassime, 23, took a notable step back in his performance in 2023.
Thus, compared to a sensational 2022 in which they won four titles and won 60 games, in 2023 they only won 30 games and only won one tournament (Basel).
However, the one from Montreal was a very difficult opponent to decipher not so long ago for Alcaraz, who lost his first three duels against him. Only Alexander Zverev (five wins) and Jannik Sinner (four) have beaten the Spaniard more times in their professional career.
However, Alcaraz got rid of the thorn against Auger-Aliassime last year and did so precisely in Indian Wells, where he beat the Canadian in the quarterfinals 6-4, 6-4 in two hours.
Alcaraz came to this new confrontation with Auger-Aliassime after a scare in his debut against the Italian Matteo Arnaldi, who won the first set 6-7(5), followed by a brilliant comeback in the next two sets 6-0 and 6 -1.
Perhaps eager to make amends for his hesitant start on Friday, Alcaraz began his match this Sunday at noon by stepping on the accelerator from the beginning and with fantastic solidity both in his serve and in his play from the back of the court.
Auger-Aliassime responded first to this great demand and took risks with his serve: at times he did well with cannonballs on his serve but he also began to get tangled in double faults.
Alcaraz had no compassion. He saw the opportunity with 2-2 and service for his rival, he went to 15-40 while shouting “yes, yes” and finished the ‘break’ against an Auger-Aliassime whose hand began to shake (3 -2).
With inertia in his favor and perfect mobility (his ankle injury in Rio now seems a thing of the past), Alcaraz took out the roller and shook his opponent with a new ‘break’ (5-2).
Auger-Aliassime, in decline and weighed down by errors that kept accumulating, reached 0-30 and 30-40 when Alcaraz served to close the first set.
Juan Carlos Ferrero’s pupil did not get nervous at all: with an open serve and a perfect parallel he solved that break ball against him, he resorted to the drop shot to punish the Canadian even more and finished the first set with enormous authority and after only 32 minutes.
Alcaraz had won five games in a row and the sixth in a row came at the start of the second set. The Murcian did not give his rival any respite and broke her serve to uncork the set.
Auger-Aliassime, sometimes incredulous but also dejected by the hurricane that came from the other side of the net, suffered the most dominant version of Alcaraz and could not deal with the power of the Spaniard’s forehands nor with his changes of pace anymore. out with balloons or leftovers.
Determined to finish on the fast track, Alcaraz, who did not lose his serve throughout the afternoon, finished off the match with a new ‘break’ and walks with firm steps in the first Masters 1,000 of the season.
