Carlos Alcaraz chases third straight Indian Wells title

INDIAN WELLS – Carlos Alcaraz will take a softly-softly approach as he vies to become just the third man to win three straight titles at Indian Wells, where he could find a member of that exclusive club, Novak Djokovic, standing in his way in the quarter-finals.

“I will try not to think about it,” the Spaniard said, of his bid to match the treble feat achieved by Djokovic from 2014 to 2016 and Roger Federer from 2004 to 2006.

“I will try just to enjoy it. This tournament, every time that I come here, I enjoy so much practising, playing.

“Everything for me here is so easy.

“So I will try not to think about it, just flow and see how it’s going to be, the tournament. But it is something that for me would be great to achieve.”

Alcaraz, coming off a quarter-final defeat at the Qatar Open, is seeded second behind Germany’s Alexander Zverev, who finished runner-up at the Australian Open to Italian world No. 1 Jannik Sinner.

Sinner in February accepted a belated three-month ban after testing positive a year ago for traces of clostebol, so he will not be in action this week.

Alcaraz said Sinner’s absence does not change his approach “at all”.

“Jannik’s not playing, but there are a lot of the best players in the world playing here,” he said.

“I think the draw is really open. I’m just focused on my things, on myself, and I try to play good tennis here.”

He could face a formidable quarter-final test from Djokovic, who owns five Indian Wells titles overall. The Serb leads their career head-to-head record 5-3, including a quarter-final triumph in four sets at the Australian Open.

Zverev, meanwhile, is chasing a first Indian Wells title.

In the women’s draw, world No.