Carlos Alcaraz is through to his second consecutive Indian Wells quarter-final after Jack Draper retired from their match due to injury.
After just 46 minutes, an abdominal injury forced Draper to throw in the towel with the Spaniard leading the match 6-2, 2-0.
It was a disappointing end to a match which had promised to be a showstopper, but there was a show of good sportsmanship as Alcaraz left his opponent a message following the gloomy conclusion to their clash.
‘’Get well soon Jack!!’’ Alcaraz penned on the camera lens after the match.
‘’This is not the way anybody wants to win a match, because something is wrong,’’ Alcaraz said during his on-court interview.
‘’All I can say is I hope to see him get well soon.’’
Only recently recovered from injury himself, Alcaraz admitted that the confidence he lost while being out on injury has returned and that he feels as though he is back to being ‘one of the favourites’ for all upcoming tournaments.
‘’I felt the ball really well. I'm really happy with that part," Alcaraz continued.
"I would say I returned well, I hit great shots. I finished the match with confidence in my shots, to come into the next round with more confidence.
‘’I have to go back to my usual confidence, you know. I didn’t feel I was the favourite once I start in Argentina, for example.
‘’But as soon as I was playing matches, tournaments, I was recovering my confidence, I was recovering, let’s say, my style, my level, and once I — yeah, right now I feel that I’m able to win tournaments. I’m there. One of the favourites.’’
The world No. 2 will take on 8th seed Felix Auger-Aliassime, who leads their Head2Head 3-0, for a place in the semi-finals.
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