Alcaraz Blows Past Musetti In Beijing, Will Face Ruud In QFs; Dimitrov Downs Rune

In the men’s draw at Beijing top seed Carlos Alcaraz blew past rival Lorenzo Musetti of Italy 6-2, 6-2 for his 60th win of 2023.

The 20-year-old Alcaraz broke Musetti four times while saving all three break points he faced to improve to 2-1 against the Italian, with two easy wins this year.

“Today was a perfect match for me,” Alcaraz told the ATP. “You can improve and be better every day but I was proud of my tennis playing this level. I played high quality, great shots and a great return game. It was a great match and I enjoyed playing today. I enjoy China.”

Alcaraz tomorrow will face Casper Ruud in a rematch of their US Open final last year. Ruud edged Tomas Martin Etcheverry in a thriller 1-6, 7-5, 7-6(9-7). Ruud rallied from a break down 4-2 in the third and 4-0 in the breaker.

“It was not the best start. I was struggling a bit with the shade and the sun at the beginning,” Ruud stated. “I got a good start in the second set. I broke him right away and that was what I needed to get the match going. Two really tight sets that went in my favour but I am really happy. It was a really tough battle.”

Alcaraz leads Ruud 3-0.

Grigor Dimitrov continued his strong season upended the struggling Holger Rune 6-3, 7-5. Rune has now lost six of his last seven matches while Dimitrov ends a 12-match losing streak to Top 5 players.

“I’m focusing on the level of my tennis. I’ve lost quite a few close matches this year against a few players like that, so I really wanted to step up my game a little bit more,” said Dimitrov. “I still felt I could have done a few things a little bit better, but a win is a win. I just need to think a little bit about what I can improve.

“From the first match to now I see a few things that are better, but I still believe I can top it off a little bit more.”

Also, the 6th-seeded Jannik Sinner enjoyed a comfortable win over Yoshihito Nishioka 6-2, 6-0. He’ll now face Dimitrov tomorrow.

Tomorrow in other quarterfinal play, Daniil Medvedev takes on Ugo Humbert and Alexander Zverev is back to meet Nicolas Jarry.

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