Seven on the trot as Alcaraz books Barca quarters

Carlos Alcaraz extended his current clay win streak to seven straight on Thursday, hammering Serb Laslo Djere 6-2, 6-4 in a show of force at his home ATP event in Barcelona.

Last weekend’s Monte Carlo champion fought back from 4-2 down in the second set to keep his fans happy at the Rafael Nadal court at the Real Club.

Alcaraz swept the final four games to advance comfortably in 71 minutes

The world No. 2 moved into a serious challenge against on-form Aussie fifth seed Alex de Minaur, who has yet to top the Spaniard in three previous meetings.

De Minaur booked his spot in the last eight 6-1, 6-2 over British qualifying lucky loser Jacob Fearnley.

Alcaraz now stands a formidable 27-1 on Spanish clay courts since the start of 2022. He has yet to lose in Barcelona, standing a flawless 12-0 with titles in 2022 and 2023.

(“Winning in) straight sets (helps to) save energy for the matches that I have coming forward,” the 21-year-old said..

“I played great tennis, even better than the first round, even though I had to come back. I was really happy to find a great level again and hopefully keep going.”

Elsewhere in the Catalan capital, Monte Carlo, 30th-ranked Monte Carlo semi-finalist Alejandro Davidovich Fokina stopped the rot after five defeats against Andrey Rublev, upsetting the ATP No. 8 with a 7-5, 6-4 to scoreline.

The Spaniard now plays Karen Khachanov, posted a 7-5, 6-4 victory over local Jaume Munar, as he duplicated a 2017 quarter-final here.