World No 1 Alcaraz turns on the style with win over Dimitrov in Paris

World No 1 Carlos Alcaraz cruised to a 6-1, 6-3 win over Grigor Dimitrov as he moved ominously into the quarter-finals of the Paris Masters on Thursday.

The top-seeded Spaniard, still sporting tape on his left knee, needed just 72 minutes for victory as he set up a clash with either Russian seventh seed Andrey Rublev or in-form Dane Holger Rune.

“I would say I played better (than his first match),” Alcaraz said. “I’m more used to play here in this court, in these conditions. I’m happy with the performance, and of course really happy with be able to play my first quarter-final here in Bercy.”

In the previous round, the 19-year-old, who won the US Open in September to claim his first Grand Slam and the No 1 ranking, defeated Japanese Yoshihito Nishioka (6-4, 6-4).

Dimitrov, ranked No 28, won against Dutchman Botic van de Zandschulp (7-6 (5), 7-6 (5)) and Italian lucky loser Fabio Fognini (6-0, 7-5) earlier in the tournament.

Paris Masters 1000, other last 16 results (Accor Arena, EUR 5.415.410, most recent results first):

• Pablo Carreno Busta vs. Tommy Paul
• Stefanos Tsitsipas vs. Corentin Moutet
• Novak Djokovic vs. Karen Khachanov
• Gilles Simon vs. Felix Auger-Aliassime
• Holger Rune vs. Andrey Rublev: thursday
• Frances Tiafoe (16) beat Alex De Minaur: 6-3, 7-6 (5)
• Lorenzo Musetti beat Casper Ruud (3): 4-6, 6-4, 6-4