Alex de Minaur has bowed out of the Indian Wells Masters amid a stream of errors, toppled in straight sets by Argentina’s Francisco Cerundolo.
Normally so consistent, world No.10 de Minaur produced 39 unforced errors across the two sets in the 7-5 6-3 round-of-16 clash in the Californian desert on Wednesday.
The Australian had beaten world No.26 Cerundolo in four sets at the Australian Open in January, but the Argentine has been in good form since, reaching the Buenos Aires final last month.
“I am super happy. I knew it was going to be a battle today,” said 26-year-old Cerundolo.
“Alex is an amazing player, a fighter. He is having some great years, a top-10 player and we had a battle in Australia and it went his side but today I had another match, another opportunity and I think I did really well.”
Cerundolo had to save one break point on serve at 5-5 in the first set but then pushed through in one hour and 50 minutes to reach his fifth ATP Masters 1000 quarter-final, where he will face two-time defending champion Carlos Alcaraz, who ousted 14th seed Grigor Dimitrov.
Second-seed Alcaraz hasn’t dropped a set on his way to the quarter-finals. The four-time grand slam champion breezed to a 6-1 6-1 victory.
“Today with the conditions, it was really tough for us both. I had to survive,” Alcaraz told the ATP Tour.
“I always say in these conditions, you have to survive no matter what. I’m very happy that I was able to play long rallies. I got a good rhythm, even with the conditions, so I’m just really happy to get through.”
He did not face a break point in the first set as Dimitrov scraped together a handful of winners against more than a dozen unforced errors.
Alcaraz dropped only four of his first-serve points in the second set and snuffed out the three break-point chances Dimitrov had in the fifth game to advance, closing it out with a forehand winner.
Ben Shelton became the youngest American man since Andy Roddick in 2004 to reach the Indian Wells quarter-finals, beating countryman Brandon Nakashima in straight sets.
The 22-year-old Shelton cruised in the second set of a 7-6 (8-6) 6-1 victory.
“Sometimes things don’t work all the time. I make execution errors. I feel my intent has been really good this week and that has been a huge part of my success,” Shelton said.
He will aim to advance to his first Masters 1000 semi-final when he takes on 13th seed Jack Draper, who ousted third seed and former Indian Wells champion Taylor Fritz 7-5 6-4.
– with Reuters
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