Carlos Alcaraz wins to start 2025 Indian Wells title defense

Two-time BNP Paribas Open champion Carlos Alcaraz kicked off his quest for a third straight Indian Wells title with aplomb on Saturday, knocking out Quentin Halys, 6-4, 6-2 to reach the third round.

The former world No. 1 and No. 2 seed has now won his last 13 matches at the Indian Wells Tennis Garden as he looks to win his first Masters 1000 title in a year, easing past the unseeded Frenchman in 67 minutes on Court 1.

Still just 21 years old, Alcaraz has enjoyed a solid, if unspectacular start to his 2025 season, winning a 17th ATP title in Rotterdam but suffering quarterfinal defeats at the Australian Open and the Qatar ExxonMobil Open to Novak Djokovic and Jiri Lehecka, respectively.

"I have played the tournaments a lot of times, but every year is kind of different," Alcaraz said after the match. "Different feelings, different, I gonna say different everything.

"Obviously talking about this tournament, it's something that I really want to go far, and probably it is an extra pressure. That's why I was a little bit nervous. So, I try to show that I wasn't, but I think it is normal and it's gonna be like that in every tournament, I guess."

Already a four-time major champion, Alcaraz arrives in the desert with the chance to take control of the field in the absence of Jannik Sinner, who is currently serving a suspension for an anti-doping rule violation.

"Well, it's something that it is in the mind, but I'm not really focusing on it," Alcaraz said. "Because in every tournament I just focus on myself, I focus on, okay, I really want to play good tennis, I am focused on how I can be better, a better player.

"You know, if I'm doing the right things in every tournament, the No. 1 is gonna come after. So if I'm thinking about the No. 1, I have to do good results, I have to win tournaments. If I'm focusing on it just to recover the No. 1 I'm putting extra pressure on myself, which I don't want it. So I just keep going, focus on the things that I have to improve on myself, and we will see."

With world No. 2 Alexander Zverev already out of the tournament, Alcaraz is the highest-ranked man in the field and played like it against Halys.

Currently ranked at a career-high of No. 59, Halys turned heads with a run to the semifinals of the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships, where he stunned Doha champion Andrey Rublev after coming through qualifying.

The 28-year-old made relatively quick work of former Top Tenner Pablo Carreño Busta in the first round but was quickly off-balance against Alcaraz, who scored the lone break of the opening set.

After saving a break point to serve out the set, Alcaraz turned up the heat in the second as he raced through the first four games. Halys was able to get on the board but the Spaniard would not be denied, winning eight of the final nine points on his serve to ease over the finish line in just over an hour.

A bigger challenge awaits Alcaraz in the third round in No. 27 seed Denis Shapovalov, a former world No. 10 in the midst of a career resurgence. Shapovalov won his first ATP 500 title since 2022 last month in Dallas and defeated Australian qualifier Adam Walton in straight sets earlier on Saturday.

Alcaraz won their only previous match, on clay at 2023 Roland Garros in straight sets.