Great Britain’s Cameron Norrie beat Australian qualifier Rinky Hijikata in the last 16 at Indian Wells and could meet world number one Carlos Alcaraz in the quarter-finals.
Norrie is yet to drop a set at this year’s tournament, backing up his win over sixth seed Alex de Minaur in the previous round with an impressive 6-4 6-2 victory over world number 117 Hijikata in one hour and 16 minutes.
The 30-year-old left-hander broke Hijikata’s serve in the opening game of the match and, after wrapping up the first set, broke twice more in the second to race into the last eight.
On his own serve, the 27th seed faced only one break point in the match.
Norrie has a good record at the hard-court event in California.
This is his eighth appearance in the men’s singles and it is the fourth time that he has made it to at least the quarter-final stage.
He won the title in 2021, but lost in the last eight in the following two years.
Alcaraz will hope to secure his quarter-final place against Norwegian 13th seed Casper Ruud later on Wednesday.
Norrie has won three of his eight tour-level matches against the Spaniard, including their most recent meeting at the Paris Masters in October.
