Miami Masters: Alcaraz plays “complete match” to beat Musetti, make quarter-finals

Spaniard Carlos Alcaraz, the top seed, won against Italian Lorenzo Musetti, the No 23 seed, 6-3, 6-3 to move into the quarter-finals of the Miami Masters at the Hard Rock Stadium on Tuesday night.

With Musetti playing some of his best tennis in months here in Miami, this clash was set as a mouth-watering encounter. However, a strong serving effort from Alcaraz (74 percent of first serve points won, two of three break points saved) and some powerful all-court tennis (23 winners, nine unforced errors and 23 of 27 net points won) saw this become a straight-forward victory for the Spaniard.

“I’m really happy with that performance that I did today. I think it was a complete match from my side,” said Alcaraz after his win over Musetti.

“You know, a lot of things that I can take from this match. I think I solve really well the problems that I had. You know, I was really tough during the rallies. I knew what I have to do during the important moments as well. Really happy about that, as well.”

Alcaraz back to his best

“Indian Wells was really important for me,” Alcaraz continued, referring to the ATP Masters tournament he won earlier this month. “You know, in the personal part, yeah, thanks to that tournament I started to feel better, you know, off the court as well, on the court obviously.

“I’m feeling the joy every day with my team, with my close people. My family is here. It’s a really important support for me as well. Yeah, I really want to go to practice. I enjoy practicing. You know, right now I’m in a really good point of everything in the professional part and the personal part as well.

“Hopefully keep in that way, and let’s see how it’s going to be the next weeks, the next month. But right now I’m thinking about what I’m feeling, and it’s a great feeling.”

Speaking of enjoyable tennis, the pair combined to produce one of the points of the tournament so far. Musetti, clearly enjoying fatherhood after welcoming his son into the world a fortnight ago, executed an audacious tweener lob against Alcaraz, who immediately returned fire with a tweener of his own. The Italian won with a lovely angle volley, sending the crowd wild.

Alcaraz, ranked No 2, will face the winner of the match between Bulgarian Grigor Dimitrov, the No 11 seed, and Pole Hubert Hurkacz, the No 8 seed, next.

The 20-year-old Spaniard defeated Roberto Carballes Baena (6-2, 6-1) and Frenchman Gael Monfils (6-2, 6-4) earlier in the tournament.

In the previous rounds of the Miami Open, Musetti, ranked No 24, won against Russian Roman Safiullin (7-5, 6-1) and American Ben Shelton, the No 16 seed (6-4, 7-6 (5)).

Miami Masters 1000, other last 16 results (Hard Rock Stadium, hard, USD 10.404.205, most recent results first):

• Alexander Zverev vs. Karen Khachanov
• Alex De Minaur vs. Fabian Marozsan
• Grigor Dimitrov vs. Hubert Hurkacz: tuesday
• Jannik Sinner (2) beat Christopher O’Connell: 6-4, 6-3
• Nicolas Jarry (22) beat Casper Ruud (7): 7-6 (3), 6-3
• Daniil Medvedev (3) beat Dominik Koepfer: 7-6 (5), 6-0
• Tomas Machac beat Matteo Arnaldi: 6-3, 6-3

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