Alcaraz Still on Track for Indian Wells 'Three-peat', Keys Keeps Streak Alive

Mar 12, 2025; Indian Wells, CA, USA; Carlos Alcaraz (ESP) hits a shot as he defeated Grigor Dimitrov (not pictured) in his fourth round match of the BNP Paribas Open at the Indian Well Tennis Garden. Mandatory Credit: Jayne Kamin-Oncea-Imagn
Mar 12, 2025; Indian Wells, CA, USA; Carlos Alcaraz (ESP) hits a shot as he defeated Grigor Dimitrov (not pictured) in his fourth round match of the BNP Paribas Open at the Indian Well Tennis Garden. Mandatory Credit: Jayne Kamin-Oncea-Imagn
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Alcaraz Still on Track for Indian Wells 'Three-peat', Keys Keeps Streak Alive

Mar 12, 2025; Indian Wells, CA, USA; Carlos Alcaraz (ESP) hits a shot as he defeated Grigor Dimitrov (not pictured) in his fourth round match of the BNP Paribas Open at the Indian Well Tennis Garden. Mandatory Credit: Jayne Kamin-Oncea-Imagn
Mar 12, 2025; Indian Wells, CA, USA; Carlos Alcaraz (ESP) hits a shot as he defeated Grigor Dimitrov (not pictured) in his fourth round match of the BNP Paribas Open at the Indian Well Tennis Garden. Mandatory Credit: Jayne Kamin-Oncea-Imagn

Carlos Alcaraz moved closer to a rare Indian Wells "three-peat" as he breezed past an exhausted Grigor Dimitrov 6-1 6-1 to reach the quarter-finals on Wednesday, while Madison Keys tallied a 15th straight victory by beating Donna Vekic 4-6 7-6(7) 6-3.

Alcaraz, who is bidding to become the third man to win the event three times in a row after Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic, handled the blustery conditions far better than the Bulgarian 14th seed.

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Dimitrov was showing signs of fatigue from his three-hour third-round match earlier in the week and could do little to stop the Spanish world number three, who next faces Argentine Francisco Cerundolo.

"Today with the conditions, it was really tough for us both. I had to survive," he told the ATP Tour.

"I always say in these conditions, you have to survive no matter what. I'm very happy that I was able to play long rallies. I got a good rhythm, even with the conditions, so I'm just really happy to get through."

Alcaraz did not face a break point in the first set as Dimitrov scraped together a handful of winners against more than a dozen unforced errors.

Four-times Grand Slam champion Alcaraz dropped only four of his first-serve points in the second set and snuffed out the three break-point chances Dimitrov had in the fifth game to advance, closing it out with a precision-placed forehand winner.

'GOOSEBUMPS'

Australian Open champion Keys maintained her hot streak with a win over 19th seed Vekic to set up a meeting with the Swiss wildcard Belinda Bencic.

Vekic, the silver medallist in Paris, showed terrific defence in winning the first set, fending off three break points in the second game and another in the fourth.

She had a 5-3 lead in the second set tiebreak but Keys dug in her heels, clinching it with an unreturnable serve as the Croatian thrust her racquet to the court in frustration.

"Sometimes after a close tiebreaker and winning the set and kind of having a little bit of, like, a surge of energy and everything, sometimes you can get almost a little bit too amped," said Keys.

"So I just wanted to try to play really tough the first game and just try to get the thing that I was doing well in order to close out that set."

Keys did exactly that, taking the momentum from the tiebreak and breaking Vekic to open the third. She closed out the comeback win with one of her lethal forehands to wild cheers from the home fans.

Earlier in the day, Bencic pulled off the upset against third seed Coco Gauff 3-6 6-3 6-4.

In a tightly-contested third set, Bencic came back from 0-40 down to break for a 5-4 lead and closed out the victory on her first match point when the American ripped a forward long.

"Obviously, this is why you are practicing and working hard all your life," Bencic said in her on-court interview.

"The way you cheered before the match ... I had chills and goosebumps."

Briton Jack Draper took down another home contender in former champion Taylor Fritz 7-5 6-4 to reach the quarter-finals for the first time, where he will play 11th seed Ben Shelton.

"I played a really high-level match," said US Open semi-finalist Draper. "I think I struggled here in the past with my serve, but I thought that I served great today, and I think that put a lot of pressure on him."

Shelton advanced with a 7-6(6) 6-1 win over fellow American Brandon Nakashima.

Women's top seed Aryna Sabalenka easily dispatched British lucky loser Sonay Kartal 6-1 6-2 and will meet Russian Liudmila Samsonova in the final eight.



England’s Kane Optimistic About Chances of Winning First Ballon D’Or 

Football - World Cup - UEFA Qualifiers - England Training - St George's Park, Burton upon Trent, Britain - March 18, 2025 England's Harry Kane and Kyle Walker during training. (Action Images via Reuters)
Football - World Cup - UEFA Qualifiers - England Training - St George's Park, Burton upon Trent, Britain - March 18, 2025 England's Harry Kane and Kyle Walker during training. (Action Images via Reuters)
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England’s Kane Optimistic About Chances of Winning First Ballon D’Or 

Football - World Cup - UEFA Qualifiers - England Training - St George's Park, Burton upon Trent, Britain - March 18, 2025 England's Harry Kane and Kyle Walker during training. (Action Images via Reuters)
Football - World Cup - UEFA Qualifiers - England Training - St George's Park, Burton upon Trent, Britain - March 18, 2025 England's Harry Kane and Kyle Walker during training. (Action Images via Reuters)

England captain Harry Kane sees a real chance of winning the next Ballon d'Or award for the best player in the world, but knows securing silverware with Bayern Munich would be key to fulfilling that dream.

The 31-year-old striker, England's all-time leading goalscorer, has scored 32 goals and provided 11 assists in 37 appearances across all competitions this season for Bayern, helping the German giants top the Bundesliga table and book a place in the Champions League quarter-finals.

While no English player has won the Ballon d'Or since former Liverpool striker Michael Owen in 2001, Kane believes his chance of winning soccer's top individual award has been boosted by his August 2023 move from Tottenham Hotspur to Bayern.

"Just being at a club like Bayern Munich has helped push me on even more, confidence-wise and responsibility-wise," Kane told reporters ahead of Friday's FIFA World Cup European qualifier against Albania.

"I feel like I've definitely got better, I've improved, and maybe the 'aura' of me as a player is a bit more respected than what it has been in the past, because you're playing in big games, big nights.

"That's probably what I mean in terms of being respected more worldwide, on the bigger stage. For something like that, you have to win enough team trophies to be considered in that and probably score 40-odd goals, but that is a possibility this season."

Kane said his goal-scoring feats are not always appreciated but he remains motivated as ever.

"It's like when (Cristiano) Ronaldo and (Lionel) Messi were throwing these crazy numbers out there and the next season they'd score 40 goals instead of 50. It was like they were having a bad season," Kane said.

"People take it for granted and maybe a little bit with England as well. I've scored 69 goals and when you score against Albania or Latvia, or these teams, people just expect it, so it's not spoken about so much.

"If I was 25 now and doing what I'm doing, the excitement around me would maybe be a little bit different to what it is now. That's part of where we are with football ... Maybe people just get a little bit bored of what you do, but I'm certainly not bored. I'm excited for these games and the games ahead."