Sinner, Alcaraz demolish Indian Wells opponents
Reigning Grand Slam champions Jannik Sinner and Carlos Alcaraz turned in dominating performances on Sunday to roll into the fourth round of the ATP-WTA Indian Wells Masters. The two hottest young racquets in the sport showed no mercy in quick-fire victories with Australian Open champion Sinner overwhelming Jan-Lennard Struff 6-3, 6-4. "Almost perfect" Alcaraz, the reigning Wimbledon champion, stepped up his 2023 title defense with a 6-2, 6-3 victory over Canadian Felix Auger-Aliassime. The world number two Spaniard allowed his Canadian opponent no room to move, reaching the fourth round with his eighth match win in a row at the event. Sinner was equally ruthless as he attacked Struff, with the Italian winning his 17th match in succession dating to his country's Davis Cup victory in November. In other matches, Australian Alex de Minaur, seeded 10th, dominated Dubai finalist Alexander Bublik 7-5, 6-0. Greek 11th-seed Stefanos Tsitsipas eliminated a home crowd favorite with his 6-3, 6-3 defeat of Frances Tiafoe, who reached the Californian quarters a year ago. In WTA play, Iga Swiatek claimed quick revenge for a January loss as she hammered Czech Linda Noskova 6-4, 6-0 to reach the fourth round. The Polish top seed was defeated by the 29th-ranked challenger in an Australian Open third-round upset. On Sunday, world number one Swiatek quickly recovered after going down an early break to the 19-year-old, levelling at 4-all and sweeping through the remainder of the third-round match. Swiatek will next face Kazakh Yulia Putintseva, who beat Madison Keys 6-4, 6-1. (AFP)