World number two Carlos Alcaraz is through to the Indian Wells Open semi-final after defeating 11th seed Felix Auger-Aliassime 6-4 6-4 on Thursday.
Alcaraz, 19, continued his terrific start to 2023, now boasting 12 wins from his first 13 matches of the year after winning the Argentina Open and reaching the Rio Open final.
But despite the Spaniard's status as the game's top young talent, he came into the contest winless in his three previous meetings against Canada's Auger-Aliassime.
What separated the two this time around was Alcaraz's ability to keep the ball in play. He produced 26 winners with only eight unforced errors, and while Auger-Aliassime was not much worse (24 winners, 13 unforced errors), he committed six double faults.
He is now one match away from reaching the third Masters 1000 final of his career, having won both the Miami Open and the Madrid Open this past season.
Dazzling CARLITOS @carlosalcaraz defeats Auger-Aliassime for the first time 6-4, 6-4 and sets up a last four clash with Sinner!@BNPPARIBASOPEN | #TennisParadise pic.twitter.com/8OxusQQWTu
— ATP Tour (@atptour) March 17, 2023
Meeting him in the semi-final will be Italy's Jannik Sinner after he prevailed 6-4 4-6 6-4 against hometown hero Taylor Fritz.
In the seesawing contest, Sinner narrowly edged the total point count 94-86 – with both committing exactly 17 unforced errors – but the Italian created nine break point chances compared to Fritz's three.
Since the beginning of the Australian Open, Sinner sports a 14-2 record, with the only losses in that span coming against world number three Stefanos Tsitsipas and world number six Daniil Medvedev.
It will be the sixth meeting between Sinner and Alcaraz, with the Spanish teen taking in a 3-2 edge after a five-set thriller at the US Open.
