Alcaraz, Fritz, Gauff into Quarterfinals at Indian Wells

14 March 2023, US, Indian Wells: US tennis player Taylor Fritz in action against Hungary's Marton Fucsovics during their men's singles round of 16 match of the Indian Wells Masters Tennis tournament. (dpa)
14 March 2023, US, Indian Wells: US tennis player Taylor Fritz in action against Hungary's Marton Fucsovics during their men's singles round of 16 match of the Indian Wells Masters Tennis tournament. (dpa)
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Alcaraz, Fritz, Gauff into Quarterfinals at Indian Wells

14 March 2023, US, Indian Wells: US tennis player Taylor Fritz in action against Hungary's Marton Fucsovics during their men's singles round of 16 match of the Indian Wells Masters Tennis tournament. (dpa)
14 March 2023, US, Indian Wells: US tennis player Taylor Fritz in action against Hungary's Marton Fucsovics during their men's singles round of 16 match of the Indian Wells Masters Tennis tournament. (dpa)

Carlos Alcaraz is three victories away from returning to the world's top ranking, having reached the quarterfinals of the BNP Paribas Open on Tuesday.

Alcaraz, ranked No. 2, advanced when Jack Draper retired with the Spaniard leading 6-2, 2-0 after 46 minutes of play. It was Alcaraz’s 101st ATP Tour victory.

"I would say I returned well, I hit great shots," Alcaraz said. "I finished the match with confidence in my shots, to come into the next round with more confidence."

Draper was affected by an abdominal injury that first surfaced in his win against Andy Murray a day earlier. The injury affected the Brit's serve, which dropped well below 100 mph, and his movement. A trainer visited him between sets and Draper won just one point in the first two games of the second set before quitting.

Coco Gauff rallied from a break down in the third set to beat Swedish qualifier Rebecca Peterson, 6-3, 1-6, 6-4 and reach the quarterfinals.

Down 2-4, Gauff fought her way back and saved three break points while serving at 4-all before closing out the match in the next game.

Four years ago, Peterson routed a then-14-year-old Gauff at a Challenger tournament in Michigan.

"She whopped me really bad," Gauff said on court. "I think today was really a mental thing, just staying in the match. I wasn’t playing my best in some moments and I wasn’t serving as well as I’d like to, but I think that my mentality kept me in."

The sixth-seeded American next plays No. 2 seed Aryna Sabalenka, who beat 16th-seeded Barbora Krejcikova, 6-3, 2-6, 6-4.

No. 3 Jessica Pegula lost to 15th-seed Petra Kvitova 6-2, 3-6, 7-6 (11) after the American blew four match points

"When the match is like this, it is very exhausting," Kvitova said. "Up and down. Definitely it's one of the best matches I've played."

Sorana Cirstea took out No. 5 Caroline Garcia 6-4, 4-6, 7-5, No. 7 Maria Sakkari beat 17th-seeded Karolina Pliskova 6-4, 5-7, 6-3, and No. 10 Elena Rybakina defeated Varvara Gracheva 6-3, 6-0.

On the men's side, defending champion Taylor Fritz moved into the quarters with a 6-4, 6-3 win over Marton Fucsovics.

No. 5 Daniil Medvedev overcame a swollen right ankle and outlasted 12th-seeded Alexander Zverev, 6-7 (5), 7-6 (5), 7-5.

"When I rolled my ankle, I rolled it pretty hard," he said. "At the moment I rolled it I was like ‘Okay I’m going to stand up and it’s going to be fine,' but then I continued to stay on the ground because the pain was only growing. It was definitely a crazy match."

Medvedev took a medical timeout to have his ankle taped in the second set before going on to notch his 17th consecutive match win and improve to 22-2 this year.

"This one was definitely the toughest one of all," he said on court.

Zverev added to the drama by saving a match point and breaking for 5-5 in the final set. Medvedev broke right back and went on to win.

He next plays Spain’s Alejandro Davidovch Fokina, who beat Cristian Garin 6-3, 6-4.

No. 10 Cameron Norrie, the 2021 champion, beat sixth-seeded Andrey Rublev, 6-2, 6-4. Norrie improved to 21-3 this year.

Norrie advanced to a quarterfinal against Frances Tiafoe, who beat qualifier Alejandro Tabilo, 6-4, 6-4.



Man United Needs Near Perfect End to Season to Avoid its Worst Premier League Points Total


Manchester United's Bruno Fernandes during the English Premier League soccer match between Nottingham Forest and Manchester United at the City Ground, Nottingham, England, Tuesday, April 1, 2025. (Mike Egerton/P via AP)
Manchester United's Bruno Fernandes during the English Premier League soccer match between Nottingham Forest and Manchester United at the City Ground, Nottingham, England, Tuesday, April 1, 2025. (Mike Egerton/P via AP)
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Man United Needs Near Perfect End to Season to Avoid its Worst Premier League Points Total


Manchester United's Bruno Fernandes during the English Premier League soccer match between Nottingham Forest and Manchester United at the City Ground, Nottingham, England, Tuesday, April 1, 2025. (Mike Egerton/P via AP)
Manchester United's Bruno Fernandes during the English Premier League soccer match between Nottingham Forest and Manchester United at the City Ground, Nottingham, England, Tuesday, April 1, 2025. (Mike Egerton/P via AP)

Manchester United needs to win seven of its eight remaining Premier League games this season just to match its worst-ever points total in the modern era.

That's how bad it's got for the record 20-time English champion in a crisis-hit campaign.

“We have to get it right fast,” head coach Ruben Amorim said after Tuesday's 1-0 defeat to Nottingham Forest.

United’s lowest points total since the Premier League began in 1992 was 58 in the 2021-22 season. It is currently on 37, with 24 more points to play for, The AP news reported.

Seven wins would give Amorim’s team the 21 points needed to reach 58.

To put that in context, United has not won back-to-back games in the league all season. The last time it managed that was in the final two games of the previous campaign.

Amorim, meanwhile, has only won six and lost nine of his 19 league games since taking over in November. United has won 10 in total.

New lows The loss to Forest was United's 13th in the league this term. Last year's total of 14 defeats was the club's worst in the Premier League era.

Amorim said in January that this might be the worst team in United's history and things have only got worse since then.

While there is little danger this season of one of the world's most storied teams being relegated from the top flight for the first time since 1974, it will almost certainly hit new lows in the modern era.

United's lowest league position in the Premier League was the eighth-place finish overseen by former manager Erik ten Hag last year. It seems unlikely Amorim will be able to better that, with his team eight points below eighth-place Fulham.

Based on form, the likelier scenario is United finishes the season even lower than it already is, with Tottenham, Everton and West Ham all within touching distance.

Years of decline This season continues United's onfield decline since managerial great Alex Ferguson retired in 2013 after winning the club's last league title.

It was his and United's 13th championship of the first 20 years of the Premier League. The club hasn't won another since.

Its lowest finish in the Premier League under Ferguson was third.

Goal drought Among United's many problems this season have been a lack of goals. The Forest game was the 11th time it has failed to score in the league - prompting a desperate Amorim to play center back Harry Maguire in attack as he went in search of a late equalizer.

Maguire came closer than any of his teammates to scoring when seeing a stoppage time effort cleared off the line.

“We deserved more in this game, that is clear, but it was our fault. We need to be better in the last third," Amorim said.

Rasmus Hojlund, a striker signed from Atalanta for $82 million last season, has only scored eight goals in his 41 games in all competitions this term.

Strike partner Joshua Zirkzee has scored six in 45 appearances. United has scored 37 in the league all season with a goal difference of minus-4.

Amorim, however, insists he sees improvement.

“I don’t lie to myself," he said. "Everybody can say whatever they want to say, I see some things, but we need to win games.”