Indian Wells, March 13 (IANS): The defending champion Carlos Alcaraz of Spain earned a 6-3, 6-3 victory over Fabian Marozsan to avenge his last year’s Rome loss to the Hungarian and reach the quarterfinal of the ATP Master 1000 event.

The second seed secured his 50th match win at the ATP Masters 1000 level with aggression from the baseline, producing heavy firepower to rush the 24-year-old and advance to the last -eight after one hour, and 15 minutes.

The duo began on level terms before Alcaraz broke in the seventh game. Marozsan managed to save the first two break points in the game but the Spaniard injected pace on another forehand for 4-3. A backhand passing shot sealed a second break and the set.

When Alcaraz broke for 4-2 in the second set, a similar scenario unfolded. The World No. 58 Marozsan saved two break points, only for Alcaraz to capitalise on his third chance with a breathtaking forehand passing shot.

Alcaraz saved the lone two break points he encountered in the ensuing game. Then at deuce, in one of the points of the match, the pair took to exchanging backhand slices. The Spaniard changed direction on the last one, giving him space to hit a forehand down the line to leave Marozsan in disbelief and eventually clinched the affair with a 12th forehand winner.

The two-time Grand Slam champion will next lock horns with German Alexander Zverev, who handed him a four-set loss in the Australian Open quarterfinals.

Zverev rallied to beat Alex de Minaur 5-7, 6-2, 6-3, improving to 7-2 versus the lightning-quick Australian.

On the other hand, Jannik Sinner continued his perfect 2024 season and extended his overall winning streak to 18 matches with a 7-6(4), 6-1 victory against home favourite Ben Shelton, reaching the Indian Wells quarterfinals.

The 22-year-old Italian earned his 150th hard-court tour-level win (150-46), becoming the first player born since 2000 to reach that milestone.

Next up for Sinner is a quarterfinal matchup with 32nd seed Czech player Jiri Leheckam who blasted past Stefanos Tsitsipas 6-2, 6-4 to reach his first Masters quarterfinal.

The 22-year-old Czech has won his past six sets in Indian Wells, including straight-sets upsets against fifth seed Andrey Rublev and 11th seed Stefanos Tsitsipas. Lehecka did not allow a break point against Rublev on Sunday, and he saved all four of Tsitsipas' break chances on Tuesday, according to ATP stats.