Alcaraz moves past Djere to enter Rd-4 in Rome

Alcaraz, who also defeated Djere in April en route to the final in Barcelona, converted four of nine break points he earned in an ultimately comfortable one-hour, 44-minute victory, ATP reports.

With his Tour-leading 26th win of the season, the 22-year-old booked a fourth-round meeting with 23rd seed Karen Khachanov, who earlier sunk home favourite Francesco Passaro 6-3, 6-0.

Alcaraz was slow to get going on Campo Centrale, but he dug deep before accelerating past an opponent, who struggled with a right arm injury for much of the match, and produced a classy tie-break, highlighted by a stunning forehand slice winner from a seemingly impossible position to wrap up the opening set.

"He played really solid in the first set. I didn’t find the way to [stop him], that’s how tough it was at the beginning. He was serving for the first set and I just thought that I had to stay there, mentally strong, and wait for my chances... I was just happy to get the first set.

Djere received treatment from the physio on his troublesome arm, but the injury began to affect the Serbian. He quickly fell a double-break behind, and Alcaraz was quick to wrap up a win.

“In the second set I think I was playing better. He made a few mistakes that I tried to make the most of, and I am really happy," Alcaraz said.

Alcaraz will hope to build on solid-yet-unspectacular start in Rome after he missed Madrid due to an adductor injury.

If Alcaraz can defeat Khachanov on Tuesday, he will complete the set of reaching the quarter-finals at all nine Masters 1000 events. Alcaraz currently leads the 23rd seed 4-0 in their Lexus ATP Head-to-Head series.