On a day when his idol Rafael Nadal was tested to the full, Carlos Alcaraz breezed into the quarter finals of the French Open with a 6-1 6-4 6-4 win over Karen Khachanov.
Nadal needed to dig deep to beat Felix Auger-Aliassime in five sets, but there were no such troubles for Alcaraz.
Khachanov was impressive in beating British No. 1 Cameron Norrie in the previous round, but he was swatted away by Alcaraz.
The teenager dominated from the outset on Court Philippe-Chatrier and wrapped un the win in two hours and 14 minutes to set up a meeting with Alexander Zverev.
“It was a great match,” Alcaraz said in the Eurosport Cube. “I had to stay focused from the beginning to the end.
“I started aggressive, dominated the match and tried to keep my level through the match.”
On advancing to the net on a regular basis, Alcaraz said: “I am a player who likes the drop shots and volleys. My style is to be aggressive, so I try to go to the net as many times as I can.
“I like the people talking about you, knowing you. It is pressure, but I try to get that pressure as motivation.
“I like to play in the biggest stadiums in front of a lot of people.”
Alcaraz made a blistering start, toying with Khachanov from the baseline and giving his opponent no time to get himself set to hit his booming groundstrokes.
After being made to look second rate in the opening set, Khachanov made a decent fist of the second and put the teenager under pressure. But as he has done on so many occasions already this season, Alcaraz soaked it up and hit back with interest.
One break of serve proved enough to move him two sets to the good, and an early break at the start of the third set him on course for the winning line.
Khachanov found a break of serve, to get the third set back on level terms, but it only served to fire up Alcaraz who broke back and sealed the game with one of the shots of the tournament – a tweener lob for a winner.
It was barely believable and halted any thoughts of a Khachanov comeback as victory was wrapped up shortly afterwards
