WATCH: Every winner from Carlos Alcaraz during his Miami Open victory over Taylor Fritz

ATP Tour

Shahida Jacobs
March 31, 2023

Carlos Alcaraz remained on course to become only the eighth man to win the Sunshine Double as he produced another sublime display to beat Taylor Fritz in the quarter-final of the Miami Open.

It was a clinical performance from the defending champion as he hit 19 winners and made only one unforced error compared to 22 winners and 12 unforced errors from Fritz. There were no double faults from the Spaniard’s racket and he saved two break points while the American served five double faults and saved only two out of five break points.

Alcaraz broke in the opening game of both sets while he also claimed a second break in game seven of the second set for a 6-4, 6-2 victory.

“A little bit of nerves at the beginning of the match. It was new for me, playing against him,” the Spaniard said after the match.

“I knew that I had to play my game, the way that I was playing the previous matches, a high level for me. Of course I’m very happy with the way I started the match, with no mistakes and with a lot of power. It was a key for me to break his serve at the beginning and then [play] my game.”

The 19-year-old is looking to join the Sunshine Double winners list that currently contains Jim Courier (1991), Michael Chang (1992), Pete Sampras (1994), Marcelo Rios (1998), Andre Agassi (2001), Roger Federer (2005, 2006, 2017) and Novak Djokovic (2011, 2014, 2015, 2016).

That is certainly some illustrious company and he is already ahead of the players on that list as he is the first man since 1990 to win the Indian Wells Open and reach the semi-final in Miami without dropping a set.

Men’s players since 1990 who won Indian Wells without dropping a set, then reached the Miami semis without dropping a set:

Carlos Alcaraz (2023)

~ End of list ~

(Via @JeuSetMaths) @carlosalcaraz #MiamiOpen pic.twitter.com/AG08aLnyvG

— Tennis TV (@TennisTV) March 31, 2023

Jannik Sinner is next in the firing line and the pair have already had some interesting tussles with the US Open champion leading their head-to-head 3-2.

Their most recent meeting came at the Indian Wells semi-final with Alcaraz emerging with a 7-6 (7-4), 6-3 victory.

“We have a good relationship outside the court. You know, we wave to each other, we talk,” the Spaniard said.

“When we are off the court, we practice a few times together as well. Yeah, he’s a really nice guy. I think that’s really important as well, to be a nice person. Of course, yeah, we share a lot of great moments outside of the court.”

READ MORE: Carlos Alcaraz tougher to face than Nadal, Djokovic, Federer and ahead of Big Three at the same age’

Carlos Alcaraz Jannik Sinner Taylor Fritz