Last update: March 15, 2023, 09:16 AM IST
Carlos Alcaraz in Indian Wells (AP)
Carlos Alcaraz qualified for the Indian Wells Quarterfinals with Jack Draper retiring with an injury to his right side
Top seed Carlos Alcaraz reached the Indian Wells quarter-finals on Tuesday after Britain’s Jack Draper was eliminated from the fourth-round game with an injury to his right side.
Spaniard Alcaraz, who can return to world no the square stopped.
“No one wants to win a game because something is wrong,” said Alcaraz. “All I can say is that I hope he gets well soon.”
Alcaraz, 19, became the youngest-ever men’s world no. 1 after his precocious triumph at the US Open last year.
But after a stomach injury disabled him late last year and a leg injury forced him to miss the Australian Open, he has slipped behind Serbian superstar Novak Djokovic.
Djokovic is absent this week as he is banned from entering the US for getting vaccinated against Covid-19.
Alcaraz returned to action last month with a win in Buenos Aires and a second-place finish in Rio de Janeiro – where he sustained a strained hamstring which prompted him to withdraw from Acapulco.
He looked in fine form at Indian Wells, although Draper couldn’t put up much resistance.
It was a disappointing end to the week for Draper, who defeated childhood hero Andy Murry in the third round.
Kvitova falls Pegula
Two-time Wimbledon champion Petra Kvitova saved four match points on Tuesday to beat third-placed American Jessica Pegula 6-2, 3-6, 7-6 (11/13) and reached the quarter-finals in Indian Wells for the first time in seven years.
Kvitova, a former world no.
“I had all these emotions, up and down the whole game, it was a disaster at one point and then I just made winners.
“I don’t know how many match points I saved today – four? Oh! I don’t know how I did it.”
Kvitova, 33, reached the quarterfinals in the California desert in 2013 and 2016.
After snagging the first set from Pegula – who came down from one set in her previous two matches – the American turned things around.
But Pegula couldn’t finish the job. Kvitova saved a match point in the 10th game of the third set and broke Pegula.
They traded two more breaks of serve to progress to a tiebreaker that was neck and neck throughout. Pegula had the first chance when the score was 6-5, but Kvitova won the next two points to earn a match point.
It went on like this until Kvitova’s bold serve-and-volley move paid off on her fourth match point.
“I knew Jessica wouldn’t be missing. It doesn’t matter what I’m going to do, I know I was always tired in the third trying to come back.
“I just had to go there. In the tight moments, it’s really difficult to try.”
(With contributions from agencies)
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