Carlos Alcaraz overcame a tricky test from Daniel Evans in the third round of the Shanghai Masters, advancing 7-6(1), 6-4 on Monday.

The Spaniard, who is making his debut in Shanghai, handled Evans’ court-craft with his own agility and power, prevailing in a series of lung-busting exchanges to improve to 41-1 on the year against players ranked outside the top 20.

Alcaraz will play Grigor Dimitrov, who beat Karen Khachanov 7-6 (8-6), 6-4, in the last 16.

Alcaraz frustrated Evans with his depth and accuracy in the and rallied from a break down in the first set to lead. He then committed just two unforced errors in the second set to improve to 4-0 in the pair’s Hhead-t0-head record.

“It was a really tough match. It was one of the toughest matches I have played outside of the grand slams,” Alcaraz said.

“Every time I play Daniel it is a tricky match and I have to play my best to beat him... Both of us played a high quality of tennis and I am really happy to get through.” Alcaraz is seeking his seventh tour-level title of the season this week and third at ATP Masters 1000 level.

Eight-seeded Casper Ruud made it back-to-back straight sets wins with a convincing 6-4, 6-2 win over 29th-seeded Christopher Eubanks.

Written with inputs from Reuters