Star Metro - Alcaraz powers into last 16 at Miami

The 19-year-old Spaniard, who beat Daniil Medvedev to win the title in Indian Wells last week, looked in top condition as he outclassed Lajovic in the first set to keep his Miami title defence on track.

But the Serb was able to provide some tension towards the end of the second set, breaking to make it 5-5 with Alcaraz paying the price for a sloppy return.

Alcaraz was 6-2 up in the tie-break, but Lajovic won the next three points before the Spaniard's big back-hand winner settled the 91-minute contest.

"Everything was under control or I thought it was but, you know, in the match it's never easy," Alcaraz said.

"The nerves came out. I made a few mistakes that I hadn't done during the whole match. So it was tough to win the match. But I'm really happy with the level that I'm playing and it was a good match," he added.

Alcaraz will face Tommy Paul in the last 16 and the American goes into that game on the back of a 12-match winning streak against Spanish players including wins over Alcaraz and Rafael Nadal last year.

American Taylor Fritz rolled into the fourth round for the third consecutive year after clinching a 6-4, 6-4 win against Canada's Denis Shapovalov.

In a hard-hitting encounter, with both players blasting from the baseline, Fritz did not face a break point during the 81-minute encounter.

"I felt like I just protected my serve well. I didn't give him a lot of free points, served well, so I didn't face any break points," said Fritz.

"I was just able to capitalize on the one break that I got in both sets. That really, that was the difference," he said.

Fritz has already won one tournament in Florida this year, taking the title last month at Delray Beach.

O.Lessard--SMC