Alcaraz beats Dimitrov to advance in Indian Wells

INDIAN WELLS — Two-time defending champion Carlos Alcaraz overpowered Grigor Dimitrov, 6-1, 6-1, on Wednesday (Thursday in Manila) to reach the quarterfinals of the ATP Indian Wells Masters.

The world number three from Spain defied the difficult windy conditions on Stadium Court to deliver a dominant performance against a player who had won their past two encounters — in-cluding in the quarterfinals at the Miami Open last year.

He denied Dimitrov's bid to join Canadian Felix Auger-Aliassime as the only players to beat Alcaraz in three consecutive meetings.

With his 50th ATP Masters 1000 match win, Alcaraz kept alive his bid to join Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic as the only men to win three straight In-dian Wells titles.

Having reached the fourth round without dropping a set, Alcaraz produced his most impressive performance of the tournament, appearing supremely untroubled by the swirling winds that had ball kids scampering after blowing trash.

He broke Dimitrov to open the match and broke him again to secure the first set.

He didn't face a break point until the fifth game of the second set, but he worked his way out of that jam with an ace on Dimitrov's third break chance, then broke the Bulgarian for a 5-1 lead.

Alcaraz polished it off in style, giving himself a match point with his sixth ace of the match and sealing the win with a forehand winner.

He will play Argentina's Francisco Cerundolo for a place in the semifinals. Cerundolo beat Australian Alex de Minaur, 7-5, 6-3.

In women's, Belinda Bencic upset world number three Coco Gauff to line up a quarter-final clash with Australian Open champion Madison Keys.

Switzerland's Bencic triumphed 3-6, 6-3, 6-4 to reach her first WTA 1000 quarter-final since becoming a mother last year.

Keys also had to rally, downing Croatia's Donna Vekic 4-6, 7-6 (9/7), 6-3 to advance in her first tournament since she captured her maiden major in Mel-bourne.

Bencic dominated after dropping the first set to avenge a fourth-round loss to Gauff at the Australian Open this year.

The 28-year-old former world number four didn't face a break point after the opening set and kept the pressure on Gauff, who struggled with her fore-hand after her aggressive start to the game.

It was a loose forehand return which handed Bencic the crucial second break point at 4-4 in the third set and she confidently served out to clinch victo-ry.

Bencic, who gave birth to daughter Bella last April, was unranked when she returned to action in October. But she has gone from strength to strength, claiming her ninth career title in Abu Dhabi last month to rise to 58th in the world this week.

She said her improved fitness was a factor in her ability to best Gauff in three sets this time, when she couldn't in Melbourne in January.

"What changed is that I just kept on working also on the physical side," Bencic said.