Top seed Carlos Alcaraz cruises into the quarter-finals of the Queen's Club Championships after he beat Jiri Lehecka, but third seed Taylor Fritz was knocked out by Adrian Mannarino; British No 1 Cameron Norrie faces Sebastian Korda in the quarter-finals on Friday
Thursday 22 June 2023 18:04, UK
Carlos Alcaraz eased through to his first career quarter-final on grass with a comfortable 6-2 6-3 victory over Jiri Lehecka at Queen's Club.
Much is expected of the 20-year-old Spanish sensation, although he is clearly still coming to terms with his timing and movement on the grass.
However, this was a vast improvement on his laboured first-round win over Arthur Rinderknech.
"I'm really happy with the level I played at today," he said. "I think I had a solid match, I played my game and enjoyed playing here.
"Playing this kind of match I'm OK with this one. It's more practice and I am happy getting experience on grass.
"After this match the expectation changes. I think I'm ready to get a good result on grass."
Alcaraz is pursuing more than his first grass-court title this week. If he triumphs at Queen's Club he will reclaim the world No 1 spot in the ATP Rankings from Novak Djokovic on Monday.
Andy Murray's conqueror Alex De Minaur swept past Diego Schwartzman 6-2 6-2 and will face France's Adrian Mannarino, who beat Taylor Fritz 6-4 7-6 (9-7).
Meanwhile, British No 1 Cameron Norrie faces American Sebastian Korda, who knocked out Britain's Dan Evans in the first round, in the quarter-finals on Friday.
Korda, the world No 32, said: "He's probably one of the biggest fighters on tour. He doesn't give you very many free points.
"I'm expecting a good battle. It's going to be fun, for sure, and another good test for me. Yeah, another solid match coming up. I'm very happy for it."
Mannarino got another big win on grass, and entertained along the way, by ousting third-seeded Fritz 6-4 7-6 (9-7).
A week after beating Daniil Medvedev on grass last week in 's-Hertogenbosch in the Netherlands, Mannarino won through to reach the quarter-finals.
In Halle, Jannik Sinner held off Lorenzo Sonego for a 6-7 (4-7) 6-4 6-4 second-round triumph.
"I've played a lot of hours for these couple of matches but it's better," said Sinner, who reached his first tour-level quarter-final in 's-Hertogenbosch. "I can touch more balls on the grass courts and hopefully it can give me a lot of confidence."
