DOHA, Qatar (AFP) — Carlos Alcaraz maintained his 100-percent start to the year by battling past Frenchman Valentin Royer in Doha on Wednesday, while his great rival Jannik Sinner also secured a quarterfinal place.

The world No. 1, who became the youngest man to complete the career Grand Slam at the Australian Open earlier this month, notched his ninth straight win of 2026 with a 6-2, 7-5 success despite trailing 5-2 in the second set.

“There were some moments when I thought about a third set, I’m not going to lie, but obviously it was just a small place in my mind that was thinking that,” Alcaraz said.

“The rest was working to find solutions, to find the right way again.”

The 22-year-old will play Russian seventh seed Karen Khachanov for a semifinal berth on Thursday.

Alcaraz has won all five of his previous meetings with Khachanov, losing only one set in the process.

Alcaraz raced through the opening set against Royer, breaking twice without facing a break point.

But the 60th-ranked Royer raised his level in the second, missing a break point in the second game but making no mistake shortly afterwards to stretch 3-1 in front.

Alcaraz immediately carved out an opportunity to hit straight back in the next game, but Royer managed to consolidate his break.

The underdog could not close out the set when he served for it, though, as Alcaraz broke back in game nine.

The Spaniard made Royer pay, eventually reeling off five consecutive games to wrap up victory.

Italian Sinner, playing his first tournament since losing to Novak Djokovic in the Australian Open semifinals last month, eased to a 6-3, 7-5 win over Australian Alexei Popyrin.

Sinner will play Jakub Mensik in the quarters.

The world No. 2 has now won his last 50 matches against players ranked outside the top 50, a run dating back to a loss to Dusan Lajovic in Cincinnati in 2023.

“I respect every player, but I always try to play my best tennis,” Sinner said when told of that streak.

“The ranking, at the end of the day, is just a number. Everyone is playing (with) high quality.”

“Especially when the opponents don’t have much to lose, you always have to stay very focused.”

Australian world No. 53 Popyrin battled gamely but failed to create a break-point opportunity against his clinical opponent.

Sinner dropped just three points on serve in an excellent first set, which he took courtesy of a break in the sixth game.

Popyrin fought hard in the second but could not force a tie-break as Sinner broke to grab a 6-5 lead before confidently serving out the set.

Stefanos Tsitsipas reached his first quarter-final since the Barcelona Open last April, beating former world number one Daniil Medvedev 6-3, 6-4.