Alcaraz chases third straight Indian Wells title; Sabalenka swoons over new, faster court surfaces

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.

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"I will try not to think about it," Alcaraz said of his bid to match the treble feat achieved by Djokovic in 2014, 2015 and 2016 and Roger Federer in 2004, '05 and '06.

"I will try just to enjoy it," Alcaraz told reporters Tuesday as he prepped for the elite ATP Masters 1000 tournament that starts Wednesday alongside a WTA IOOO tournament.

"This tournament, every time that I come here, I enjoy so much practicing, 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 in the Qatar Open, is seeded second behind Germany’s Alexander Zverev, who finished runner-up at the Australian Open to Italian world number one Jannik Sinner.

Sinner last month accepted a belated three-month ban after testing positive a year ago for traces of banned Clostebol.