Carlos Alcaraz barrelled into the China Open quarter-finals on Sunday in just 56 minutes.
Rain in Beijing played havoc with the schedule but four-time grand slam champion Alcaraz made rapid progress under the roof of the Diamond Court with a 6-1, 6-2 demolition of Tallon Griekspoor to reach another milestone in his already stellar career — his 200th career tour victory.
Among the 29 players to have reached the top of the world rankings, Alcaraz is the second fastest to win 200 matches. He has done so in his 252nd match, with only John McEnroe hitting the landmark sooner (245 matches).
It took Rafael Nadal 255 matches to reach the milestone, Novak Djokovic 274 (the same as Jannik Sinner) and Roger Federer needed 302 to get there.
Alcaraz struck four aces, converted five of seven break points and did not offer up a single chance for Griekspoor, who he had also defeated to claim his 100th career win.
The Spaniard, who has not been at his best since reaching the final of the Paris Olympics, which he lost to Novak Djokovic, delivered a statement win as he aims to round out the 2024 season on a high note. He will face Karen Khachanov in the quarter-finals.
The Russian Khachanov booked his place with a hard-fought 7-6 (7/4), 7-6 (11/9) victory over Argentina’s Francisco Cerundolo.
Local favourite Bu Yunchaokete upset Paris Olympics bronze medalist Lorenzo Musetti 6-2, 6-4 for the 22-year-old’s first victory against a top-20 player.
Pegula prevails
Among women, third-ranked Jessica Pegula responded to losing a marathon first set to rally for a 6-7 (9), 6-1, 6-2 win over Veronika Kudermetova in the third round.
Pegula has won 17 of her last 19 matches, including defending her title in Toronto and making finals at Cincinnati and the US Open, where her only defeats have come to Aryna Sabalenka, the top-seeded player in Beijing.
The American made three service breaks in the first set, but also lost three of her own, with Kudermetova prevailing in a lung-busting 20 point tiebreaker to take the lead.
The loss of the tiebreaker seemed to spur Pegula to life as she found her groundstroke range to break her Russian opponent’s serve twice in each set to take the match in just over two-and-a-half hours.
It was Pegula’s first win against the 39th-ranked Kudermetova in three attempts.
Pegula will play the 15th-seeded Paola Badosa in the fourth round after the Spaniard beat Serbian Rebecca Sramkova 7-5, 7-5.
Poland’s Magdalena Frech, seeded 23rd, rallied to a three-set win over 12th-seeded Diana Shnaider 0-6, 6-3, 6-4 and next faces the 595th-ranked wildcard Zhang Shuai, who beat Greet Minnen of Belgium 6-2, 6-3.
