Read & Watch: Alcaraz Follows Sinner’s Lead Into QFs

Carlos Alcaraz has been following Jannik Sinner on court this week at the Rolex Monte-Carlo Masters. He’s also been following his pattern to victory.

Both players opened their campaigns Tuesday with breezy wins that lasted just over an hour. On Thursday, both raced through the first set, dropped the second after mental lapses and then steadied with early breaks in the deciders.

Alcaraz kept alive his hopes of preventing Sinner from reclaiming the No. 1 PIF ATP Ranking on Monday when he defeated accomplished Argentine dirtballer Tomas Martin Etcheverry 6-1, 4-6, 6-3 in two hours, 23 minutes.

“You see every tournament how difficult it is to beat him,” Alcaraz said of Etcheverry. “He is a great fighter and I have great respect for him.

“In the first set I was hitting the ball like 10 out of 10. The second set I started well, had chances to break his serve and when you don’t take those opportunities at this level [that can be trouble].

“He gained some confidence, played more aggressively and was not making many mistakes. Conditions got a little slower.”

Rio de Janeiro champion Etcheverry, who has won a tour-leading 11 matches on clay this year, flipped the match on its head with an inspired run of shotmaking in the second set. Coupled with the defending champion’s 23 unforced errors in the set, Etcheverry frequently served wide to the forehand on the deuce court to open up the court and swung boldly from the baseline in return games to put unusual pressure on the Spaniard.

But Alcaraz, who went 22-1 on the clay swing last year, emphatically regained the momentum. After breaking for 2-0, he lofted an immaculate backhand lob over an incoming Etcheverry and then blasted a down-the-line backhand winner to move to a commanding 3-0 lead to take full command.

Etcheverry slipped to 0-19 in his career against Top 10 players.

Alcaraz will next meet eighth seed Alexander Bublik, who dropped just four points on first serve and did not face a break point in a 6-2, 7-5 win over Miami finalist Jiri Leheckha.

World No. 10 Bublik, who had won just one match in the Principality before this week, dropped serve once in his opening-round win over Gael Monfils. But that is the only break point he has faced in the tournament.