Barcelona Open: Alcaraz maintains Spain streak, books spot in last eight

Spaniard Carlos Alcaraz, the top seed, moved into the last eight of the Barcelona Open by winning against Serb qualifier Laslo Djere 6-2, 6-4 at Real Club de Tenis Barcelona on Thursday.

Alcaraz is now 27-1 on Spanish clay courts since the start of 2022 – including a 12-match unbeaten streak in Barcelona.

He has made the quarter-finals in all six tournaments played in Spain in the last four years: the last time he failed to reach this stage on home soil was in Madrid 2021, when he was beaten by Rafael Nadal in the round of 32.

Alcaraz, ranked No 2, will face the winner of the match between lucky loser Jacob Fearnley and Australian Alex De Minaur, the No 5 seed, next.

This will be his sixth quarter-final in seven events played so far this year.

In the previous round of the Barcelona tournament, the 21-year-old Spaniard defeated American qualifier Ethan Quinn (6-2, 7-6 (6)).

Djere, ranked No 80, beat French lucky loser Arthur Rinderknech (6-7 (2), 6-1, 6-2) in the previous round of the Barcelona tournament.

Barcelona ATP 500, other second-round results (Real Club de Tenis Barcelona, clay, EUR 2.889.200, most recent results first):

• Jacob Fearnley vs. Alex De Minaur
• Alejandro Davidovich Fokina beat Andrey Rublev (4): 7-5, 6-4
• Karen Khachanov beat Jaume Munar: 7-5, 6-4
• Casper Ruud (2) beat Hamad Medjedovic (Q): 7-5, 7-5
• Stefanos Tsitsipas (3) beat Sebastian Korda: 7-6 (4), 6-4
• Holger Rune (6) beat Sebastian Baez: 4-6, 6-1, 6-2
• Arthur Fils (7) beat Pedro Martinez Portero: 6-3, 6-2