World No. 1 Carlos Alcaraz beat Grigor Dimitrov 6-1 6-3 to secure his place in the quarter-finals of the Paris Masters on Thursday, and defending champion Novak Djokovic advanced with a 6-4, 6-1 over Karen Khachanov.

Top-seeded Alcaraz dominated from the start and dropped just two points on serve in the first set before fending off a second-set comeback from Bulgarian Dimitrov to close the game in an hour and 12 minutes.

“The level (of Grigor) is not quite the level you saw today, but I played very well,” said Spaniard Alcaraz, who is aiming for his third ATP Masters 1000 title this season. .

“At the end of the second set it was more difficult for me, he came back, raised the bar and obviously it was difficult. He was lucky to come up in the second set, I had to stay calm at that point and do my best not to let him go up.

Six-time ATP Masters 1000 winner Djokovic put in an impressive performance in his straight-sets victory over Russia’s Khachanov, scoring 18 winners.

The Serb will face Lorenzo Musetti for a place in the semi-finals after the young Italian knocked out Roland Garros runner-up Casper Ruud.

Musetti, 20, scored 37 wins as he came from a set to knock out third-seeded Norwegian Ruud 4-6, 6-4, 6-4 and advance to the quarter-finals of the ATP Masters 1000.

“He (Ruud) was playing very well and I had to play my best tennis to beat him. I’m really happy that all the hard work I’ve done keeps improving. I’m very proud of this win,” Musetti said.

Danish teenager Holger Rune set up a quarter-final showdown with Alcaraz after beating seventh seed Andrey Rublev 6-4 7-5 and Canadian Felix Auger-Aliassime stayed on course for his fifth title the year with a 6-1 6-3 demolition of veteran Frenchman Gilles Simon.

Russians Rublev and Auger-Aliassime secured their place for the ATP season finale in Turin on Wednesday.

Fifth-seeded Stefanos Tsitsipas was instrumental in sealing a 6-3, 7-6(3) victory over Frenchman Corentin Moutet and reaching the semis.

The Greek will face the Spaniard Pablo Carreno Busta or the American Tommy Paul, who face each other on Thursday.

Reuters