When Carlos Alcaraz says no, he really means no. That’s what happened in his showdown with Denis Shapovalov in the Round of 32 of the Indian Wells, scoring 6-2 and 6-4 to take his place in the fourth round of the tournament. It does seem that he is on comfortable ground whenever he steps on the courts of the BNP Paribas Open.

At this point, the biggest question has been to how will anyone be able to at least stop Alcaraz in the Indian Wells. With his 14th win in a row in the tournament so far, it does seem that he is making an unstoppable case and will be likely headed for the final of the tournament as he did in the last two seasons.

Considering that Alcaraz is the heavy favorite to win, it does seem that this kind of groove is expected from him right off the bat, and one can say that he is carrying this pace for a chance to move up in the ranks of the ATP Rankings now more than ever. What a run it has been for the Spaniard so far.

Strong From Start to Finish

Alcaraz scored a 5-0 rally to start off the game, and he really rattled the Dallas Open champion despite the latter being able to find his game later on. Alcaraz had laser focus in the game and just made quick work of Shapovalov as he closed out the match in just an hour and 24 minutes.

"I know he started the season really strong, showing really good tennis with the title in Dallas, playing good tennis in Acapulco, so I knew that I had to start the match really strong, really focused on my things, on the level," Alcaraz said in his on-court interview. "Try to play good tennis, good rallies at the beginning just to get the good pace, to come into the match. I saw that it was going to be a really good and difficult battle, so just really happy with the way that I started the match.”

Alcaraz only dropped two sets in his 14-match winning streak in the BNP Paribas Open so far, and he didn’t give up one in this clash and saving three of the four break points he faced, and even converted four of his eight opportunities. That was really a promising performance from him as he maximized his service points won at 41.

Beating Shapovalov

This win puts Alcaraz at 2-0 in his head to head games against Shapovalov. At the age of 21, the Spaniard has claimed all five of their sets with a margin of at least 6-4 or greater. He definitely faced a player with a lot of firepower in Shapovalov, but his elite backhand proved to be pivotal in forcing the Canadian out of his game.

"Nerves are a good thing, but today I didn't feel as much nerves as I did in the first round. Today I was more relaxed, I was calm, so I could think much better,” Alcaraz added. “But as I said, I think every player has nerves at the beginning of the match. It's the way you control it, so I think today and in the first round, I did it pretty well. So hopefully it will continue like this."

Shapovalov leads the ATP Tour this season with three wins versus top 10 players in the ATP Rankings, but he definitely missed his chance against Alcaraz as he could not come back from making 27 unforced errors in the match.