Defending champion Fritz knocked out; Rybakina into semis: Indian wells

Indian Wells : Top seed Carlos Alcaraz downed Felix Auger-Aliassime 6-4, 6-4 on Thursday to book an Indian Wells semi-final place against Jannik Sinner after the Italian knocked out defending champion Taylor Fritz6-4 , 4-6, 6-4.

U.S. Open champion Alcaraz got off to a flying start, forcing the Canadian to save four break points before landing an inch-perfect forehand winner to break for a 3-2 lead in the opening set.

Auger-Aliassime grew into the match in the second set as the pair traded early breaks but Alcaraz was able to ramp up the pressure and take a 5-4 lead following an errant backhand from his opponent.

The 19-year-old Spaniard served out the set to secure a first win over Auger-Aliassime and make the semi-finals of the tournament for a second straight year.

Sinner, 21, was sharp from the outset in his match against American Fritz, riding an early service break and fending off a break point to take the first set behind his solid baseline game.

Fourth seed Fritz responded in the second, breaking Sinner on set point with a backhand winner that brought the crowd to their feet.

An exchange of breaks kicked off the third and Fritz smacked a forehand winner for a 4-3 lead but 11th seed Sinner took control from there.

He leveled at 4-4 with an athletic overhead, broke for a 5-4 advantage and blasted a serve Fritz could not handle on match point, the American's backhanded return sailing long to end the engrossing contest in the Southern California desert.

Wimbledon champion Elena Rybakina survived a stern test from Czech Karolina Muchova before advancing 7-6(4), 2-6, 6-4 and will face Iga Swiatek in Friday's semi-final after the world number one rolled past Sorana Cirstea 6-2, 6-3 at Indian Wells.

Muchova smacked a backhand crosscourt winner to break serve in the first set for a 3-2 lead and, despite having played several grueling three-set matches at the tournament and having her left thigh wrapped, looked fresh.

The hard-hitting Rybakina struck back when she converted her sixth break point opportunity of the set by pouncing on a weak approach shot from Muchova, who then could not get her volley over the net for 5-5.

In the tiebreaker momentum swung firmly in Rybakina's favour when she sent a blistering backhand winner down the line for 4-4 and the 76-minute first set ended on a Muchova double fault.

The unseeded Muchova, a former top 20 player now ranked 76th, played nearly flawless tennis in the second set to force the decider.

In the third, the 10th-seeded Rybakina went up an early break on another untimely double fault by Muchova and held at love to push the advantage to 3-1.

Muchova continued to battle, saving two match points on her serve in the ninth game.

But Rybakina did not miss her third opportunity to secure the win, crushing her sixth ace to end the two-hour, 45-minute contest on a sunny day at the WTA 1000 event in the Southern California desert. Agencies

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