World number two Carlos Alcaraz stayed on course for his fourth title of 2023 by powering into the semi-finals of the Madrid Open with a 6-4 7-5 win over Russian Karen Khachanov on Thursday.
Defending his title from last year, Alcaraz will be looking to celebrate his 20th birthday on Friday with a win against either Croatian Borna Coric or surprise German qualifier Daniel Altmaier in his sixth Masters 1000 event semi-final.
Alcaraz managed to break the Russian's serve in the seventh game, closing the first set 6-4.
However, the Spaniard began the second set a little distracted and allowed Khachanov to open up a 4-1 lead before he woke up to fight back and win the match in under two hours.
"Winning this match gives me a lot of confidence," Alcaraz said.
"Karen had been playing at a high level and took me to the limit, it was decided by small details.
"I will train for Friday, but with a lot of tranquillity and calm, I will not be overwhelmed and I have to be fresh."
Alcaraz has reached 18 consecutive wins in Spanish clay-court tournaments since losing to Rafael Nadal in Madrid two years ago on his 19th birthday.
His winning percentage overall on clay is already the third best since 2010 (82.3%), behind only Nadal and Novak Djokovic.
In the women's singles, world number one Iga Swiatek showed her clay-court dominance after she beat Petra Martic 6-0, 6-3 later on Wednesday.
Swiatek will face Veronika Kudermetova for a place in the final after the Russian beat American Jessica Pegula 6-4, 0-6, 6-4 and reach the Madrid Open semis earlier.
"I think it was a pretty solid and clean performance," Swiatek told a news conference.
"I'm pretty happy with the way I focused. I was pretty consistent with my tactics and I think it paid off."
