March 15, (THEWILL) – In a round-of-16 match at Indian Wells, Carlos Alcaraz moved into the quarter-finals after Jack Draper retired due to an abdominal injury.
The Spaniard broke Draper’s serve in the first game of the match and quickly went up 3-0. However, Draper managed to hold his serve in the fourth game of the set, showing some resistance. But Alcaraz was too strong for the young Brit, hitting winners from both wings and serving with precision.
Draper’s injury, which he had first suffered in his last-32 match against Andy Murray, started to take its toll on him. He lost the first set 6-2 and was down 2-0 in the second set when he retired. Alcaraz was in control of the match and looked confident throughout. He hit 5 aces, won 71% of his first-serve points, and converted 3 out of 5 break points.
Draper, on the other hand, struggled with his serve and hit 3 double faults. He retired due to an abdominal injury, which will likely take him some time to recover from. Should Alcaraz win the tournament, he will replace Novak Djokovic at the top of the world rankings.
“I felt the ball really well. I’m really happy with that part,” said world number two Alcaraz afterwards. He is due to take on Felix Auger-Aliassime in the quarter-finals. Auger-Aliassime has won all three of their previous meetings.
Jude Obafemi is a versatile senior Correspondent at THEWILL Newspapers, excelling in sourcing, researching, and delivering sports news stories for both print and digital publications.
