SHANGHAI, Oct 9 — Shanghai Masters top seed Carlos Alcaraz fought through what he called "one of the toughest matches this year” to make the tournament’s final 16 on Monday, beating Britain’s Daniel Evans 7-6 (7/1), 6-4.

Alcaraz is the favourite to take the title in the absence of world number one Novak Djokovic, and is hoping to use his time in China to close the gap on the Serbian at the top of the ATP rankings.

In a ferociously physical match that lasted almost two-and-a-half hours, the 33rd-ranked Evans gave as good as he got against the Spaniard, leading by three games in the first set.

But over the course of prolonged and sometimes scrappy rallies that left spectators gasping and groaning, the world number two gradually assumed control, comprehensively winning the first-set tiebreaker.

"That was probably one of the toughest matches I’ve played this year,” said the 20-year-old Alcaraz after the match.

"I tried to stay all the time there, waiting for my opportunities. I had to stay strong mentally, stay strong physically... I’m really happy with the level that I played.”

Alcaraz will next play Bulgarian Grigor Dimitrov, who earlier overcame a torrential downpour and a well-matched opponent in Russian Karen Khachanov to win 7-6 (8/6), 6-4.

The match had to be suspended at 6-6 in the first set after the heavens opened and doused centre court.

Once the Qizhong Tennis Centre roof had been closed and a host of volunteers had towelled and blowdried the court, world number 19 Dimitrov inched a tight tiebreaker and followed that by taking the second set.

Pool shrinking

Alcaraz’s pool of main rivals got smaller on Sunday when defending champion Daniil Medvedev suffered a shock defeat at the hands of 26th-ranked American Sebastian Korda.

But Jannik Sinner, who knocked Alcaraz out of the China Open semi-finals in Beijing last week, has already clinched his fourth-place spot.

He will play the United States’ Ben Shelton in the evening session on Tuesday.

Medvedev is not the only surprise exit, with wildcard Diego Schwartzman knocking out world number eight Taylor Fritz in a thrilling third-set tiebreaker on Monday.

The diminutive Argentinian has seen his ranking slide from eighth in the world to 130th, but played his best tennis to topple Fritz 6-4, 3-6, 7-6 (7/5).

The rankings and age gaps were hardly noticeable over a three-hour skirmish which saw 31-year-old Schwartzman playing up to the crowd, encouraging them to whoop and cheer for him.

In contrast, an error-prone Fritz seemed increasingly flustered, pinging his racket off the ground in irritation at one point.

When the 25-year-old American hit the ball into the net to seal his defeat, Schwartzman threw both arms in the air and screamed for joy.

"I think it was a great match,” the Argentinian said at the end, profusely thanking the tournament organisers for giving him the wildcard and saying it had improved what was "not his best year”.

There was heartbreak for French 19-year-old Arthur Fils, who came from a set down against world number 12 Tommy Paul to win a tiebreaker in the second set.

The emerging star — who won his maiden ATP Tour title in Lyon this year — started strong in the third set, breaking Paul’s serve to win the first game.

The players were level at the eighth game, but the American snatched the last two to win 6-4, 6-7 (7/9), 6-4.

Fils’ compatriot Adrian Mannarino was dismissed 6-3, 6-0 by world number seven Andrey Rublev in just an hour. — AFP