China Open: Alcaraz breezes past Musetti and into the quarter-finals

Spaniard Carlos Alcaraz, the top seed, advanced to the quarter-finals of the China Open by winning against Italian Lorenzo Musetti 6-2, 6-2 at the Olympic Green Tennis Center in Beijing.

It is the Wimbledon champion’s first tournament since his semi-final loss to Daniil Medvedev at the US Open, and his first ever appearance in Asia.

Alcaraz has set up an enticing quarter-final encounter with Casper Ruud, the No 7 seed, in a repeat of the 2022 US Open final which the Spaniard won in four sets.

The 20-year-old Spaniard beat German qualifier Yannick Hanfmann (6-4, 6-3) in the previous round of the Beijing tournament.

In the previous round of the Beijing tournament, Musetti, ranked No 18, won against Russian Karen Khachanov (6-3, 1-6, 6-2).

Beijing ATP500, other second-round results (Olympic Green Tennis Center, hard, USD 3.633.875, most recent results first):

• Holger Rune vs. Grigor Dimitrov
• Yoshihito Nishioka vs. Jannik Sinner
• Casper Ruud beat Tomas Martin Etcheverry: 1-6, 7-5, 7-6 (7)
• Alexander Zverev (8) beat Alejandro Davidovich Fokina: 6-7 (4), 6-2, 6-1
• Ugo Humbert beat Andrey Rublev (5): 5-7, 6-3, 7-6 (3)
• Daniil Medvedev (2) beat Alex De Minaur: 7-6 (3), 6-3
• Nicolas Jarry beat Matteo Arnaldi (Q): 6-7 (4), 7-6 (4), 6-3