Alcaraz beats Djere to reach Barcelona Open quarters

Top seed Carlos Alcaraz eased into the quarter-finals of the Barcelona Open with a straight-set win over Laslo Djere.

Spanish world number two Alcaraz, who triumphed at the Monte Carlo Masters last week, won 6-2 6-4 against Serbia’s unseeded Djere.

Alcaraz won the first five games and produced eight unanswered winners in a dominant first set.

The four-time Grand Slam winner suffered a blip in the second, falling 4-2 behind, before securing the final four games to triumph.

“After going 4-2 down in the second, I played a bit more like what my level is,” said Alcaraz.

“I am very happy that I could step up my level, and seem more like my best and I want to continue.”

The 21-year-old will play fifth seed Alex de Minaur in the last eight on Friday after the Australian thrashed Britain’s Jacob Fearnley.

Unseeded Fearnley beat Spain’s Roberto Carballes on Monday for his first ATP Tour win on clay, but was defeated 6-1 6-2 by De Minaur.

Elsewhere, Russian fourth seed Andrey Rublev lost 7-5 6-4 to unseeded Spaniard Alejandro Davidovich Fokina.

Fokina will face unseeded Russian Karen Khachanov in the quarter-finals after he defeated Spain’s Jaume Munar 7-5 6-4.