Alcaraz, Sabalenka sail through at China Open

Carlos Alcaraz breezed into the China Open men’s quarterfinals with a routine 6-2, 6-2 victory over Italy’s Lorenzo Musetti on Sunday.

The world No 2 overpowered Musetti and seized the first set when he forced his opponent to whack a baseline backhand into the net.

The Spaniard then broke serve twice in the second set and saw out a comfortable match with an unreturned serve.

He will face Casper Ruud in the next round after the world No 9 came back to beat Argentina’s Tomas Etcheverry 1-6, 7-5, 7-6 (9-7).

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World No 1 Aryna Sabalenka earlier sailed into the second round of the women’s draw with an imperious 6-1, 6-2 defeat of American Sofia Kenin.