Barcelona, April 18 (H.S.): Spanish star Carlos Alcaraz put on a brilliant performance to secure a place in the quarterfinals of the Barcelona Open. In the match played on Thursday, he defeated Serbia's Laslo Djere with a score of 6-2, 6-4.

World number 2 Alcaraz started the match strongly, giving Djere no chances in the first set. He saved both break points and took the first set 6-2. In this set, Djere could not hit a single winner, while Alcaraz hit 8 winners.

In the second set, Djere tried to stage a comeback and even took a 4-2 lead. However, after that, Alcaraz found his rhythm and won four consecutive games, taking the set and the match in his favor.

After the match, Alcaraz said, After being down 4-2, I played my real tennis. I’m glad I was able to raise my level at the right time. I hope to continue playing like this going forward.

**Next Match Against Whom?**

Now in the quarterfinals, Alcaraz will face either world number 7 Alex de Minaur or Britain's Jacob Fearnley. This match will be played on Friday.

On the other hand, Spain’s Alejandro Davidovich Fokina pulled off a big upset by defeating world number 8 Andrey Rublev 7-5, 6-4. This was the first time in six meetings that Davidovich Fokina managed to beat Rublev.

He achieved three breaks in the first set and took the second set in brilliant fashion, finishing the match at 5-4 without dropping a point.

In another match, Russia's Karen Khachanov defeated Spain's Jaume Munar 7-5, 6-4 to advance to the quarterfinals. Khachanov will now face Davidovich Fokina.

Hindusthan Samachar / Jun Sarkar