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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
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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.

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Pope Francis Was a Card-Carrying Football Fan and Promoter of Values in Sports

Francis met his fellow Argentine Maradona twice as pope. (AFP via Getty Images)
Francis met his fellow Argentine Maradona twice as pope. (AFP via Getty Images)
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Pope Francis Was a Card-Carrying Football Fan and Promoter of Values in Sports

Francis met his fellow Argentine Maradona twice as pope. (AFP via Getty Images)
Francis met his fellow Argentine Maradona twice as pope. (AFP via Getty Images)

From meetings with Diego Maradona to the passion for his beloved Buenos Aires club, San Lorenzo, Pope Francis was an avid football fan. And a promoter of sports in general.

Francis died Monday at 88 and the football and sports world immediately paid homage.

All sports events scheduled for Monday in Italy were postponed to mourn Francis, including four top-flight football matches. A minute of silence will be observed before all sports events this week, the Italian Olympic Committee said.

“Italian football joins in the mourning of millions of people following the death of Pope Francis. He was a great example of Christian caring and dignity in the face of suffering and he was always attentive to the sports world and particularly football, of which he was a fan,” said Italian football federation president Gabriele Gravina. “He will always remain in the hearts of the faithful and lovers of football.”

Francis’ passion for football became known almost immediately after he was elected pope in 2013 when San Lorenzo tweeted a photo of him holding up the club’s crest. He was even a card-carrying member of the club, with San Lorenzo ID No. 88,235.

San Lorenzo is nicknamed “the Saints.”

In Italy, there were also suggestions that Francis supported Juventus since his family came from the Piedmont region where the Turin club is based. Francis' father, Mario Bergoglio, was a basketball player.

San Lorenzo, one of the oldest teams in the Argentine Football Association, performed well after Francis was elected as the 266th pope in March 2013. The team won a national title in 2013 and then claimed the South American Copa Libertadores for the first time a year later. Club officials traveled twice to the Vatican carrying trophies to thank Francis for his support.

A planned new San Lorenzo stadium is to be named for Francis.

During a meeting with the Argentina and Italy national teams shortly after he was elected, Francis noted the influence of athletes, especially on youth, and told the players to remember that “for better or worse” they are role models. “Dear players, you are very popular. People follow you, and not just on the field but also off it,” he said. “That’s a social responsibility.”

Francis met his fellow Argentine Maradona twice as pope. There was a special audience in connection with a charity football match in 2014 when Maradona presented the pontiff with a football jersey, emblazoned with the name “Francisco” — Spanish for Francis — and Maradona’s No. 10.

“I think we all now realize he’s a (star),” Maradona said after another meeting in 2015. “I’m Francis’ top fan.”

When Maradona died in 2020, Francis remembered the football great in his prayers.

Francis often hailed sports as a way to promote solidarity and inclusion, especially for young people.

During a global conference on faith and sport in 2016, Francis implored leaders to do a better job of keeping corruption off the playing field and said sports must be protected from manipulations and commercial abuse.

“Francis was a special pope, able to illuminate in his time like only the greatest can,” Gianluigi Buffon, the former captain of Italy’s national football team who met the pope on multiple occasions, said on Instagram. “He showed us the way with great courage and moved our souls. I will carry his example forever in my heart.”