Indian Wells: Carlos Alcaraz claims straight-set win over Felix Auger-Aliassime

Defending champion Carlos Alcaraz reached the fourth round at Indian Wells with a comfortable straight-set win over Felix Auger-Aliassime.

World number two Alcaraz, 20, cruised to a 6-2 6-3 victory over the Canadian to set up a meeting with Hungary’s Fabian Marozsan in California.

Greek 11th seed Stefanos Tsitsipas also progressed by defeating American 18th seed Frances Tiafoe 6-3 6-3.

Italian third seed Jannik Sinner plays Jan-Lennard Struff later on Sunday.

Alcaraz did not drop a set on his way to winning the Indian Wells title last year but he had been forced to come back from a set down in his opening match against Italian Matteo Arnaldi.

He faced no such difficulties as he hit form against the 31st seed Auger-Aliassime.

After winning five successive games to take the first set in 32 minutes, Alcaraz carried that momentum into the second set as he clinched an immediate break of serve to take firm control of the match.

Auger-Aliassime survived two break points when trailing 3-1 to stay in contention, but Alcaraz sealed an impressive victory by taking his first match point on his opponent’s serve.

Upcoming opponent Marozsan, the world number 58, beat Brazilian qualifier Thiago Seyboth Wild 6-2 6-2 to progress.

Tsitsipas, who in February dropped out of the top 10 in the world rankings for first time in five years, could face Russian fifth seed Andrey Rublev in the next round, should he overcome Czech 32nd seed Jiri Lehecka later on Sunday.