BEIJING, Sept 30 (AP): Third-ranked Carlos Alcaraz advanced to the China Open semifinals for the second straight year after an impressive 7-5, 6-2 victory against Karen Khachanov on Monday.
The 21-year-old Spaniard was characteristically relentless from the baseline and ground down the No. 27-ranked Khachanov's service games and converted four of 12 service break opportunities to win in 96 minutes.
"I always try to put some pressure when they're serving just to in a certain way tell them that I'm going to be there," Alcaraz said. "If they want to win the service game or to beat me, they have to accept the battle and playing a really good tennis. For me, it's what I'm trying to show them all the time."
It was Alcaraz's 46th win of the season and the victory allowed the reigning French Open and Wimbledon champion to climb back above the absent Alexander Zverev into second place in the ATP live rankings.
Alcaraz will face Daniil Medvedev in the semifinals, after the fifth-ranked Russian beat Flavio Cobolli of Italy 6-2, 6-4.
Medvedev, still looking for his first title of the year, made 16 fewer unforced errors than the Italian and converted four of his eight breakpoint opportunities as he closed out a solid 88-minute victory.
Earlier, Andrey Rublev beat Alejandro Davidovich Fokina 6-4, 7-5 in a match that was carried over from Sunday because of a rain delay.
No. 6-ranked Rublev had six aces and 21 winners to extend his career record against Davidovich Fokina to 5-0.
The fifth-seeded Russian played local favorite No. 96-ranked Bu Yunchaokete in the quarterfinals later Monday.
Aryna Sabalenka's dominant hard-court season showed no signs of slowing down as she cruised to a 6-2, 6-2 win over Ashlyn Krueger for her 14th consecutive victory.
The three-time Grand Slam winner started her streak with a title at Cincinnati in August and continued with a run to the championship at the US Open earlier this month. She also won the Australian Open earlier in the year.
