Miami, March 30 Spain's Carlos Alcaraz battled past Greek Stefanos Tsitsipas 7-5, 6-3 in nearly two hours to secure a place in the quarterfinals at the Miami Open on Wednesday (IST).
Alcaraz will face Miomir Kecmanovic after the Serbian advanced with a 3-6, 6-1, 6-4 win over American Taylor Fritz.
Russia's Daniil Medvedev defeated American Jenson Brooksby 7-5, 6-1 to also advance into the quarterfinals. Medvedev did not have it all his own way as he was forced to rally from 5-3 down in the first set before going on to book his place in the last-eight in 80 minutes.
World No. 2 Medvedev sets up a showdown against Poland's Hubert Hurkacz who continued his Miami title defence with a 7-6(3), 6-2 win over the resurgent South African Lloyd Harris.
In a rematch of their five-set epic at the US Open, the 18-year-old Alcaraz improved to 15-2 on the season. "It was really, really tough. He was playing unbelievable. All I can say is I fought until the last ball in the first set (to) come back," the Spaniard said.
After conceding an early break to a motivated Tsitsipas, the youngster took charge by winning seven straight games from 2-5 down in the first.
Everything was working for the Spaniard, who suddenly had his opponent chasing shadows. On the rare occasions Tsitsipas was able to attack, Alcaraz flashed his world-class defence and speed to further frustrate the world No. 5.
"I knew that Stefanos is a player who always is looking for his forehand," Alcaraz said. "I tried to hit two or three backhands cross-court and then switch to down the line, to his running forehand. It was a key. I think he lives in the backhand side all the time, looking for his forehand, as I said. It was pretty important, the backhand down the line."
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