World No.1 Carlos Alcaraz needed three sets and two tie-breaks to defeat Hubert Hurkacz on Thursday at the Masters 1000 in Toronto, where Daniil Medvedev also qualified for the quarterfinals, unlike Casper Ruud .
The Spaniard chained his 14th victory in a row after losing the first set 6-3 against his Polish opponent (17th).
The prodigy from Murcia was able to turn the tide, not without difficulty, managing to remove the last two sets in the decisive game 7-6 (7/2), 7-6 (7/3).
He even showed signs of feverishness, losing a 5-2 advantage in the final round.
“I struggled on serve the whole game, I don’t know how I won,” commented Alcaraz, who has won 19 of his 21 Masters 1000 outings this season. He will face American Tommy Paul in the next round.
Earlier, the Norwegian Casper Ruud, seeded N.3, was eliminated by a compatriot of Alcaraz, Alejandro Davidovich Fokina, in three sets, 7-6 (7/4), 4-6, 7-6 ( 7/4).
In great shape, Davidovich, 37th in the world, had already eliminated the German Alexander Zverev the day before and will have every chance in the quarters against the American Mackenzie McDonald, who beat Canadian veteran Milos Raonic on Thursday (6-3, 6-3).
Ruud, whose match against Davidovich was interrupted for an hour by the rain, was making his comeback on hard courts after playing on clay in July (final in Bastad and quarter-final in Hamburg, beaten by the young Frenchman Arthur Fils ).
There have been many surprises since the start of the week in Toronto where six of the top ten seeds have already disappeared: Stefanos Tsitsipas, Andrey Rublev, Holger Rune, Frances Tiafoe, Félix Auger-Aliassime and Ruud.
The Russian Daniil Medvedev (N.2) is still in the race after his easy success Thursday against the Italian Lorenzo Musetti, 19th in the world, in two sets, 6-4, 6-4. He will face Australian Alex de Minaur, Taylor Fritz’s scorer, for a place in the semi-finals.
Andy Murray, 36, for his part withdrew against Jannik Sinner (8th).
The Italian will face for a ticket to the last four the French Gaël Monfils, who chained by overcoming Aleksandar Vukic after his exploit against Tsitsipas in the previous round.
