Carlos Alcaraz snuffed out some late resistance from Gael Monfils to book his place in the last 16 of the Miami Open.
The top seed had cruised to a 6-2 5-2 lead before Monfils broke Alcaraz to pose a test with the finish line in sight.
But the 20-year-old Spaniard served out to seal the second set to win 6-2 6-4 and book a fourth-round meeting with Italian 23rd seed Lorenzo Musetti, who beat American Ben Shelton 6-4 7-6.
“He’s a great athlete, he reaches almost every ball,” Alcaraz said of 37-year-old Frenchman Monfils. “But at the same time, with my forehand, my best shot, I tried to move him around the court, tried to get him tired a little bit.”
Alcaraz is on a quest to capture the ‘Sunshine Double’ after his triumph at Indian Wells and was never really threatened in a match-up of two of the game’s most entertaining players.
He appeared to be cruising to the finish line when he served for the match leading 5-2 but Monfils rifled a forehand winner to break and extend the match.
The comeback would prove short lived, however, with Alcaraz deploying a textbook serve and volley on his first match point to seal the win with a love hold.
Alexander Zverev, meanwhile, escaped a tight first set on his way to a 7-6(7-4) 6-3 win over Christopher Eubanks to set up a meeting with 15th seed Karen Khachanov in the last 16.
Zverev limited his unforced errors, converted his two break point opportunities and saved four of the five break points he faced before closing out the one hour and 44-minute contest with a forehand volley into the open court.
Eubanks had a chance to serve out the first set at 5-3 but was denied by Zverev, who broke the American again early in the second set to build a 3-0 lead. Zverev later had to save three break points to serve out the match.
“It was a difficult match. I thought he was in control of it throughout the first set,” former Miami Open finalist Zverev said. “I was just hanging on and sometimes that is just what you need to do.”
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