Great Britain’s Cameron Norrie will meet world number one Carlos Alcaraz in the quarter-finals at Indian Wells.
Norrie is yet to drop a set at this year’s tournament and backed 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 Rinky Hijikata in one hour and 16 minutes.
Later on Wednesday, Alcaraz defeated Norwegian 13th seed Casper Ruud 6-1 7-6 (7-2).
Norrie, 30, broke Australian qualifier 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.
Next up for Norrie is the formidable challenge of Alcaraz, who is yet to lose a match in 2026.
However, Norrie has won three of his eight previous tour-level matches against the Spaniard, including their most recent meeting at the Paris Masters in October.
