‘Winning Roland-Garros would be my golden ticket’: Alcaraz’s hot streak continues under the lights, trounces Korda

It was a slightly off-beat question, but Carlos Alcaraz handled it with aplomb. When asked to liken himself to the character Charlie Bucket from Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, he immediately got the idea. Not for him the chance to own Willy Wonka’s confectionery empire, though.

“If I win this tournament I would say I would take the golden ticket,” he said, “or being No. 1 in the world, I would say, is my golden ticket.”

The No 6 seed advanced to the last 16 of Roland-Garros by defeating American Sebastian Korda, the No 27 seed, 6-4, 6-4, 6-2 on Friday evening.

“I am enjoying every single second,” admitted the teenager in his post-match interview.

Alcaraz, ranked No 6, will play Russian Karen Khachanov, the No 21 seed, next.

In the previous rounds of the French Open, the 19-year-old Spaniard won against Argentinian lucky loser Juan Ignacio Londero (6-4, 6-2, 6-0) and Albert Ramos Vinolas (6-1, 6-7 [7], 5-7, 7-6 [2], 6-4), while Korda, ranked No 30, beat Australian John Millman (6-1, 7-5, 7-6 [6]) and Frenchman Richard Gasquet (7-6 [5], 6-3, 6-3).

Paris (Grand Slam): Other third-round results (Stade Roland-Garros, clay, EUR 43.600.000, most recent results first):

• Karen Khachanov beat Cameron Norrie (10): 6-2, 7-5, 5-7, 6-4
• Alexander Zverev (3) beat Brandon Nakashima: 7-6 [2], 6-3, 7-6 [5]
• Bernabe Zapata Miralles (Q) beat John Isner (23): 6-4, 3-6, 6-4, 6-7 [5], 6-3
• Rafael Nadal (5) beat Botic van de Zandschulp (26): 6-3, 6-2, 6-4
• Novak Djokovic (1) beat Aljaz Bedene: 6-3, 6-3, 6-2
• Felix Auger-Aliassime (9) beat Filip Krajinovic: 7-6 [3], 7-6 [2], 7-5
• Diego Schwartzman (15) beat Grigor Dimitrov (18): 6-3, 6-1, 6-2

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