Ruthless Alcaraz hammers Zverev to reach quarter-finals in Madrid

Spaniard Carlos Alcaraz took another step closer to successfully defending his Madrid Masters title as he crushed German Alexander Zverev, the No 13 seed, 6-1, 6-2 at the Caja Magica on Tuesday afternoon.

In a repeat of last year’s final, Alcaraz dropped just eight points on serve in the entire match and didn’t face a single break point as he waltzed to victory in one hour, 22 minutes, taking his place in the last eight.

The No 2 seed will face No 10 seed Karen Khachanov next. He’s now Alcaraz is now 55-12 at all ATP events on clay and his win-rate of 82.1 percent is bettered only by two players since 2010; Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic.

“It’s incredible for me to play at this level,” Alcaraz said, on court. “This is what I’m looking for, I feel very good and this kind of match gives me confidence.

“Against the best players in the world, you have to be able to mask your nervousness and that’s what I managed to do, in front of my fans and my family. I will try to keep this level for my next round against Karen Khachanov.

The 19-year-old Spaniard won against Finn Emil Ruusuvuori (2-6, 6-4, 6-2) and Bulgarian Grigor Dimitrov, the No 26 seed (6-2, 7-5) earlier in the tournament.

In the previous rounds of the Madrid tournament, Zverev, ranked No 16, beat Spaniard Roberto Carballes Baena (6-7 (6), 7-5, 6-0) and French qualifier Hugo Grenier (6-1, 6-0).

Madrid Masters, other last 16 results (Caja Magica, clay, EUR 7.705.780, most recent results first):

• Bernabe Zapata Miralles vs. Stefanos Tsitsipas
• Jan-Lennard Struff vs. Pedro Cachin
• Taylor Fritz vs. Zhizhen Zhang
• Borna Coric vs. Alejandro Davidovich Fokina: tuesday
• Aslan Karatsev (Q) beat Daniil Medvedev (2): 7-6 (1), 6-4
• Daniel Altmaier (LL) beat Jaume Munar: 6-3, 6-0
• Karen Khachanov beat Andrey Rublev (5): 7-6 (8), 6-4