A week after his triumph in Indian Wells, Alcaraz, the world No. 1 who is looking to defend his title in Miami to achieve the "Sunshine Double" (double Indian Wells / Miami), beat the Serbian Dusan Lajovic (76th) 6-0, 7-6 (7-5), in 1h32, to sign an 8th consecutive victory without losing a set.

After a first set without conceding, the 19-year-old Spaniard found himself slightly in trouble late in the match, failing to win his serve at 5-4, in the second set, Lajovic forcing the tie-break.

Alcaraz finally won the tie-break 7-5 to claim his fourth victory against the Serb in as many games.

"Everything was under control, or at least I thought so, but you know, in a game it's never easy," Alcaraz said.

"The nerves appeared. I made a few mistakes that I didn't make during the whole match. So it was hard to win. But I'm very happy with my level of play and it was a good match," he added.

Alcaraz will face American Tommy Paul, who beat him in their only encounter, in August 2022 at the Masters 1000 in Montreal.

"I lost the first and only match I played against Tommy. I know he's a very talented player and very tough, so I have to play at my best and see what happens," Alcaraz said.

American Taylor Fritz (10th) beat Canadian Denis Shapovalov (30th) 6-4, 6-4, reaching the eighth for the third consecutive year.

In a hard-fought match, where both players hit from the back of the court, Fritz didn't have to deal with a break ball during the 81-minute clash.

"I felt like I was protecting my serve well. (...) I served well, so I didn't get any break balls," Fritz said.

"I was able to capitalize on the break I got in both sets. That's really what made the difference," he added.

Fritz will face 19-year-old Dane Holger Rune (8th), who fell to Argentina's Diego Schwartzman (38th) 6-4, 6-2.

"My goal was to get into the game whenever I could and play my game. I think there were a few exchanges where I didn't, but 95 percent of the game was played my way, which was what I wanted," said Rune, who converted all four break balls he got.

On the women's side, Belarus' Aryna Sabalenka (2nd) easily disposed of Czech Marie Bouzkova 6-1, 6-2, and will meet Barbora Krejcikova, winner of American Madison Keys 7-6 (7-4), 6-3, in the eighth.

Belarus' Aryna Sabalenka during her round of 16 match against Czech Marie Bouzkova at the Masters 1000 in Miami, March 26, 2023 © MATTHEW STOCKMAN/GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA/AFP

Canada's Bianca Andreescu (31st), a finalist in Miami in 2021, qualified for the eighth by defeating (6-4, 6-4) American Sofia Kenin (164th), who had won the Australian Open in 2020.

"These wins are really nice and I had a lot of tough matches against Sofia, so it feels good to win," said Andreescu, who converted all three of her break balls.

Finally, the 23-year-old Serbian Marketa Vondrousova (103rd) defeated her compatriot Karolina Pliskova (17th), former world No. 1, 6-1, 6-2.

© 2023 AFP