Alcaraz marches on in Indian Wells title defence

Carlos Alcaraz claimed a straight-set victory over Fabian Marozsan to reach the quarter-finals and continue his title defence at Indian Wells.

The Spaniard needed 75 minutes to wrap up a 6-3 6-3 win against the Hungarian.

World number two Alcaraz is bidding to become the first player to defend the title since Novak Djokovic in 2016.

Elsewhere in California, Greek 11th seed Stefanos Tsitsipas fell to a surprise 6-2 6-4 defeat by Jiri Lehecka on Tuesday.

The Czech 32nd seed won his first ATP title in January by beating Britain's Jack Draper in the final of the Adelaide International.

He will play either Italian third seed Jannik Sinner or American Ben Shelton in the quarter-finals, while Alcaraz will face Alexander Zverev, the German sixth seed, or Australian 10th seed Alex de Minaur.

Two-time major winner Alcaraz said he was "nervous" before his meeting with Marozsan, having lost to the world number 58 in straight sets at last year's Italian Open.

"I was nervous before, I'm not going to lie. Playing against someone who beat you easily, I remembered I had no chances to win the game in Rome so it was difficult for me," Alcaraz said.

"Today I knew what I had to do better than I did in Rome."

Alcaraz broke twice in the opening set and claimed the decisive break in the sixth game of the second to seal his place in the last eight for a third consecutive year at Indian Wells.

The 20-year-old added: "I did a few mistakes that I didn't want to make so that's what I want to be better. I want to serve better. It doesn't mean today I served bad but I want to keep improving and putting good tennis on the court."

In the women's draw, 16th seed Elina Svitolina lost 6-1 4-6 6-3 to American Emma Navarro, while her Ukrainian compatriot Marta Kostyuk reached the last eight with a 6-4 6-1 over Russia's Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova.

Kostyuk will face Russia's Anastasia Potapova, who beat Italian 13th seed Jasmine Paolini 7-5 0-6 6-3.