Carlos Alcaraz has now won 70 of his last 75 matches after latest Indian Wells victory

It wasn't easy but Carlos Alcaraz continued his flawless start to the season on Monday night, battling back from a set and a break down to beat Arthur Rinderknech in the third round of Indian Wells, 6-7 (6), 6-3, 6-2, and improve to 14-0 in 2026.

That record includes seven wins en route to the Australian Open title (and completing the Career Slam), five wins en route to the title in Doha and now two wins at Indian Wells.

The Spaniard’s latest victory gives him another nifty stat, too—he’s now won an incredible 70 of his last 75 matches on the tour, a stretch that dates back to the start of last April.

His only five losses in the last 11 months have come to Holger Rune in the Barcelona final (on clay), Jannik Sinner in the Wimbledon final (on grass) and Taylor Fritz at Laver Cup, Cam Norrie in his first match in Paris and Sinner again in the ATP Finals final (all on indoor hard courts at the end of last year).

He’s undefeated on outdoor hard courts in that span, going 32-0 since falling to David Goffin in Miami last year.

For the first 70 minutes on Monday, Alcaraz had his hands full.

He had chances in the first set, bringing up double break point in Rinderknech’s 3-all service game, and then storming back from 5-2 down to hold a set point up 6-5 in the tie-break—but he mis-hit a forehand to make it 6-all, and Rinderknech snuck out the 63-minute opening frame a few points later.

Then, things looked even dodgier for Alcaraz, as Rinderknech broke serve for a 1-0 lead at the start of the second set—but the Spaniard broke right back in the next game to make it 1-all and was never behind again, winning 12 of the last 16 games of the match to run away with it in the end.

He closed it out on his first match point with a huge inside-in forehand winner, his 22nd forehand winner of the night.

“He was playing his best tennis, I would say, in the first set and beginning of the second,” Alcaraz said afterwards.

“For me it was really, really difficult—I got in trouble, to be honest. But I’m just really happy with the way that I dealt with everything that was happening. Accepted, kept going, stayed strong mentally and tried to do things a little bit differently. I just started to play more solid, waiting for my chances, and also I could return much more after that first set.

“Overall I’m really happy I was able to turn things around.”

Awaiting the No. 1-seeded Alcaraz in the fourth round on Wednesday will be No. 13-seeded Casper Ruud, who also battled back from a set down to win his third-round match against No. 24-seeded Valentin Vacherot, 3-6, 6-3, 6-4.

Alcaraz leads Ruud in their head-to-head, 5-1, which includes 4-0 on outdoor hard courts. Their most famous meeting was a four-set win for the Spaniard in the 2022 US Open final.