Spaniard and world number two Carlos Alcaraz defeated Quebecer Félix Auger-Aliassime in two sets during a third round match at the Indian Wells tournament on Sunday.
Alcaraz only needed 1 hour and 17 minutes to win 6-2, 6-3 against the 31st seed.
He broke Auger-Aliassime’s serve twice in each set and saved the only break point he allowed to his rival.
The match ended when Auger-Aliassime sent a forehand into the net, falling victim to one last break of serve in the match.
Alcaraz, reigning tournament champion, will face Hungarian Fabian Marozsan, 58th in the world, in the next round.
Auger-Aliassime had won three of the four previous duels between the two players.
He won only 54.3% of the points contested on his first service ball, compared to 78.1% for Alcaraz.
Auger-Aliassime managed only six winners against 23 unforced errors. Alcaraz for his part hammered 15 winning shots and committed 17 unforced errors.
In the other matches played on Sunday, the Greek Stefanos Tsitsipas, no. 11, also reached the fourth round thanks to a 6-3, 6-3 victory against the American Frances Tiafoe, no. 18. For his part, the Australian Alex De Minaur, No. 10, defeated Kazakh Alexander Bublik, No. 20, 7-5, 6-0.
On the women’s side, top seed Iga Swiatek triumphed 6-4, 6-0 over No. 26 Linda Noskova of the Czech Republic, also in a third-round match.
Swiatek will meet in the fourth round the Kazakh Yulia Putintseva, who defeated the American Madison Keys 6-4, 6-1.
Noskova defeated Swiatek in three sets at the Australian Open, becoming the first player under 20 in 25 years to beat the world’s No. 1 player at the tournament.
The rematch was competitive for one set, then Swiatek finally triumphed in 73 minutes.
Jasmine Paolini won another close match 6-3, 3-6, 6-4 against Anna Kalinskaya. Paolini triumphed at the Dubai Championships two weeks ago, winning in three sets against Kalinskaya in the final.