the spanish tennis player Carlos Alcaraz qualified this Wednesday for the Indian Wells quarterfinals after striking down the French Gael Monfils by 7-5 and 6-1 in one hour and 17 minutes. Alcaraz will face the winner of the match between the American Jenson Brooksby and the British Cameron Norrie, current Indian Wells champion, in the quarterfinals. Beyond on the horizon looms a hypothetical cross between Spaniards in the semifinals against Rafa Nadalwho will face Australian Nick Kyrgios in the quarterfinals after beating American Reilly Opelka 7-6(3) and 7-6(5) today in two hours and 11 minutes.
After his exhibition in the third round against his compatriot Roberto Bautista 6-2 and 6-0 in one hour and 5 minutes, Alcaraz, only 18 years old, had a fearsome rival with Monfils, who had just knocked down the number 1 in the ranking World Cup, Russian Daniil Medvedev. However, Alcaraz played a spectacular match and gave Monfils no chance, who could only lower his head in the face of the Spaniard’s superiority.
Very serious with his serve throughout the night, Alcaraz soon put Monfils’ service in trouble. However, the veteran French player began the match by letting loose with his forehand with confidence and was able to keep the match level. Faced with the coldness and concentration of Alcaraz, Monfils showed that he is one of the funniest players on the circuit with numerous funny gestures in front of the public. Oblivious to all this and after two ‘break’ balls that he could not specify, Alcaraz finally broke his rival’s serve with a fantastic cross drop from the back of the court that stunned Monfils (6-5). With everything in favor, Alcaraz finished off the first set without going through the ‘tie break’.
Already in the second set, Monfils seemed to collapse, both in his game and in his physique, and Alcaraz took advantage of it to break his serve on two consecutive occasions (4-0). The Spaniard showed enormous precision and power on his forehand, controlled the match from the back of the court and also boasted exceptional mobility that dismantled a player as tough and physical as Monfils. With no time to lose, Alcaraz finished off his brilliant victory by breaking Monfils’ serve once again and confirmed that he is being one of the great sensations in this Indian Wells.
Alcaraz landed in the Californian desert tournament after winning his first title of 2022 in Rio de Janeiro, the second of his young career after Umag 2021. The young man was one of last year’s surprises on the men’s circuit as he also came to the quarterfinals of the US Open.