INDIAN WELLS: World number one Carlos Alcaraz continued his dominant run at Indian Wells, beating Norway’s Casper Ruud 6-1, 7-6(7/2), while Jack Draper upset world number three Novak Djokovic 4-6, 6-4, 7-6(7/5) on Wednesday to reach the quarter-finals in the California desert.
Alcaraz relied on a near-flawless service game to seize control of the match, racing through the opening set in just 37 minutes after breaking Ruud’s serve three times.
Thirteenth-seeded Ruud raised his level in the second set and forced a tiebreak, hoping to push the match to a decider, but Alcaraz kept his foot on the gas to seal his 15th consecutive victory of the season to reach the quarter-finals for a fifth straight year.
“The conditions were difficult to be honest. Today the ball was tough to control but we both played great,” two-time champion Alcaraz said in his on-court interview. “My first set was incredible I’m really happy of playing that kind of level, really happy to get through and hopefully I’ll play this level on the next round.”
Alcaraz will next face 2021 champion Cameron Norrie, who earlier beat Australia’s Rinky Hijikata 6-4, 6-2, with the Spaniard looking to avenge a defeat to the Briton at last year’s Paris Masters.
Defending champion Draper claimed one of the biggest wins of his career by beating Djokovic in a deciding-set tie-break after two hours and 35 minutes.
Draper, who trailed after dropping the opener 64, stormed into the second set by breaking Djokovic early and surviving multiple break points before sealing it with aggressive baseline play.
Djokovic won a stunning 26-shot rally at 30-all in the opening game of the decider, but Draper surged to leads of 3-1 and 5-3 before the Serb battled back to 5-5 and then broke the Briton as he served for the match.
The 24-year-old kept his composure, forced the tie-break and dominated it to close out a statement victory.
“I still don’t feel like I’m playing anywhere near the way I want to play,” Draper said. “I came out here tonight and I won that match through determination and trying to problem-solve and do my best and have a great attitude.
“I’m proud of the way I regrouped. I haven’t been playing on the tour (in) a long time, so to put away guys who are top players, it’s something that comes with confidence.”
Draper will next face Russian 11th seed Daniil Medvedev, who beat Alex Michelsen 6-2, 6-4 in a commanding performance, needing just one hour and 27 minutes to dismantle the American and maintain his strong form after winning last month’s Dubai Open.
SWIATEK, PEGULA THROUGH
World number two Iga Swiatek delivered a dominant 6-2, 6-0 victory over Czech 13th seed Karolina Muchova, reeling off 10 consecutive games to secure her fifth win over the Czech, whom she also beat at the same stage of the tournament last year.
“I felt I was playing better and better, just great,” Swiatek said. “I love playing here … It’s a great place to play tennis, hopefully I can keep doing that until the end.”
Swiatek, chasing a third Indian Wells title, will face ninth seed Elina Svitolina in the quarter-finals after the Ukrainian advanced when Katerina Siniakova retired injured.
“Of course very unlucky for her to finish a tournament like this,” Svitolina said of Siniakova, a former doubles number one who ousted defending champion Mirra Andreeva in the third round.
“For me, it’s a little bit more time to recover for tomorrow’s big match,” said the 31-year-old who has lost four of five prior encounters with Swiatek.
American fifth seed Jessica Pegula overcame Belinda Bencic 6-3, 7-6(7/5) to secure her first victory in five meetings between the pair.
Pegula, coming off a dramatic comeback win over Jelena Ostapenko, took control as she clinched the opening set — her first ever against the Swiss — before edging a tightly contested tiebreak to close out the match.
Third seed Elena Rybakina advanced to the quarter-finals after Sonay Kartal retired while trailing 6-4, 4-3.
Rybakina, the 2023 champion, controlled most of the match, surging to a double-break lead in the opening set and steadying after Kartal took multiple medical timeouts.
Although the Briton briefly recovered to level the second set at 3-3, Rybakina broke in the seventh game before Kartal stopped.
“Definitely not the way I wanted to finish the match,” Rybakina said. “It’s not easy, this kind of injury.”
Rybakina next faces Pegula, a rematch of their Australian Open semifinal.
Published in Dawn, March 13th, 2026
