Carlos Alcaraz fell just one match short of an epic Rafael Nadal milestone as he made Indian Wells history thanks to Thursday’s quarter-final triumph.
World No 3 Alcaraz battled past the elements and a tricky Francisco Cerundolo to keep his campaign alive in Tennis Paradise, seeing off the 25th seed 6-3, 7-6(4).
It was undoubtedly the toughest test of Alcaraz’s campaign so far, with the second seed having steamrolled through his first three matches.
Speaking afterwards, the 21-year-old admitted it had been challenging to find his best tennis amid blustery conditions that affected all players in the desert on Thursday.
“Well, I think today was a little bit tougher than yesterday,” said Alcaraz. “I think it was more wind, colder. So the conditions were really tough.
“But, you know, I think I didn’t play as good as yesterday, but I think, I mean, tennis is about not having a great day every day. So you have to play with your best that day.
“I think today I just survived. I just save, you know, a lot of breakpoints, a lot of chances to his favor. Just really happy about it.
“I think I just played a decent match or a good match with those conditions.”
Victory for Alcaraz was a 16th straight win in Indian Wells for the Spaniard, who is the two-time defending champion at the Masters 1000 event.
It was also his 20th win at the tournament in the space of just 22 career matches in Indian Wells, his only defeats coming to Andy Murray in 2021 and Rafael Nadal in 2022.
No man in history has ever won 20 matches so quickly in Indian Wells as Alcaraz has now done, and only Rafael Nadal has hit that milestone faster across all Masters 1000 events.
It took the 22-time Grand Slam champion only 21 matches to hit 20 match wins in both Monte Carlo and Rome, both tournaments on his beloved clay courts.
While Alcaraz may have just missed out on matching a Nadal milestone, the chance to emulate one of Novak Djokovic and Roger Federer’s greatest feats looks more than possible.
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To date, Djokovic and Federer are the only two men to win three consecutive Indian Wells titles, with Djokovic doing so from 2014-16 and Federer from 2005-06.
Alcaraz is potentially just two wins from matching the two all-time greats and joining them in that exclusive club.
And, with the way the draw has panned out, the four-time Grand Slam champion is arguably a warm favourite to do just that.
Second seed Alcaraz is the only top-four seed to have made the semi-final, with Alexander Zverev, Taylor Fritz, and Casper Ruud having all fallen by the wayside.
To join Djokovic and Federer in the Indian Wells history books, Alcaraz will first need to beat 13th seed Jack Draper in Saturday’s semi-final.
Should he do that, he would then face 12th seed Holger Rune or fifth seed Daniil Medvedev – who he has beaten in the final the past two years – in the final.
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