Photo Source: TTV
Indian Wells, California – Carlos Alcaraz pays attention to the ATP Tour. He was well aware that Denis Shapovalov has been a player on the rise this season, and he’d know that the Canadian defeated three Top-10 players during his run to the Dallas title last month.
That explains why the defending two-time champion was hell-bent on getting out of the blocks quickly against Shapovalov during their third-round tussle on Monday night in the California desert. He did exactly that, racing out to a 5-0 lead before Shapovalov knew what hit him, then fought off the surging Canadian the rest of the way to earn a 6-2, 6-4 victory – his 14th consecutive win at Indian Wells.
“I know he started the season really strong, showing really good tennis, with the title in Dallas and playing good tennis in Acapulco,” the Spaniard said. “I knew that I had to start the match really strong and really focused on my level, just to get a good pace to come into the match to show him that it’s going to be a difficult battle.”
Shapovalov was riding an eight-match winning streak in Acapulco, but he lost to Alejandro Davidovich Fokina and later contracted the flu, which set his training back several days. He didn’t perform poorly against Alcaraz, but did seem to lack the energy that he carried during his run in Dallas.
Meanwhile Alcaraz was on point from start to finish. He dictated the play, regularly sprinted to the net to smother Shapovalov, and kept clean on his serve during a tight first half of the second set, before he pulled away with a break in the seventh game.
Alcaraz, now 18-2 lifetime at Indian Wells, will face either Gael Monfils or Grigor Dimitrov in the round of 16.