Alcaraz, Sinner coast into fourth round of BNP Paribas Open

Carlos Alcaraz lost the first set of his opening match in Tennis Paradise in a tiebreaker against Matteo Arnaldi, only to roar back and take the next two sets 6-0 and 6-1.

It’s safe to say that Alcaraz has plenty of momentum from that bagel and breadstick.

The second-ranked Spaniard was good from start to finish in his second match, as her erased Felix Auger-Aliassime 6-2, 6-3 in one hour and 17 minutes on Sunday afternoon. Alcaraz saved the only break point he faced and broke Auger-Aliassime four times.

“I put almost every return in, playing the point,” the 20-year-old noted. “I felt that I’m better than him from the baseline, putting some good points on the court. I think it went well. I played aggressive with less mistakes. I think it was almost a perfect match for me.

“I felt really [good] on the court. Yeah, I played at a really high level of tennis–so much higher than the first round. Yeah, hopefully (I) keep climbing.”

Climbing is exactly what Jannik Sinner is doing these days. Soaring, in fact.

Sinner improved his season record to 14-0 and extended his overall match winning streak to 17 with a 6-3, 6-4 victory over Jan-Lennard Struff on Sunday. The third-ranked Italian has not lost since falling to Novak Djokovic in the Nitto ATP Finals title match.

Sinner didn’t come close to losing in third-round action in the desert. He fought off all three of the break points he faced while advancing in one hour and 14 minutes.

“I feel like for sure I’m playing with confidence at the moment,” Sinner commented. “But in the other way, I’m very careful–because, you know, the match can change very fast. If he breaks me (in the) second set (at) 4-3, going 4-all, then it starts again from zero. So I have to be careful.”

Ricky contributes to 10sballs.com and also maintains his own tennis website, The Grandstand. You can follow him on Twitter at @Dimonator.