Virat Kohli leads India to Champions Trophy final with victory over Australia in Dubai

INDIAN WELLS, California: 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 quarterfinals.

“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 1000 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 quarterfinal defeat in the Qatar Open, is seeded second behind Germany’s Alexander Zverev, who finished runner-up at the Australian Open to Italian world No. 1 Jannik Sinner.

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

The case initially saw him exonerated when authorities accepted his explanation that the drug entered his system when a physiotherapist using it to treat a wound gave him a massage.

The World Anti-Doping Agency appealed, the case dragging on through Sinner’s triumph at the Australian Open this year.

Alcaraz said Sinner’s absence doesn’t change his approach “at all.”

“I mean, Jannik’s not playing, but there are a lot of the best players in the world (that) are playing here,” he said. “I think the draw is really open.

“I’m just focused on my things, on myself, and I try to play good tennis here.”

The Spaniard could face a formidable quarterfinal test in Djokovic, who owns five Indian Wells titles overall.

Serbian superstar Djokovic leads their career head-to-head 5-3, including a quarterfinal triumph in four sets at the Australian Open.

All 32 seeded players receive a first-round bye, and Djokovic could face a tricky second-round opener against Nick Kyrgios.

The Australian, who fell to Djokovic in the 2022 Wimbledon final, will open against a qualifier.

Top-seeded Zverev is chasing a first Indian Wells title while third-seeded American Taylor Fritz lifted the trophy in the California desert in 2022.

Norway’s Casper Ruud is seeded fourth and Russian Daniil Medvedev — runner-up to Alcaraz the past two years — is seeded fifth.

The first-round spotlight will be on wild card Joao Fonseca, the 18-year-old Brazilian who upset Andre Rublev at the Australian Open and lifted his first ATP title in Buenos Aires in February.

Fonseca will open his campaign against Britain’s Jacob Fearnley, who has climbed from outside the top 500 in he world rankings this time last year to 81st.

Al-Hilal lost 1-0 in Uzbekistan to Pahktakor on Tuesday in the first leg of their AFC Champions League Elite round-of-16 clash. Meanwhile, Saudi Pro League rivals Al-Ahli showed them how it should be done with an impressive victory over Qatari side Al-Rayyan.

A first-half goal was enough to give Pahktakor the advantage going into next week’s return leg, and the Riyadh club will have to improve if they hope to progress to the quarter-finals.

The four-time winners, beset by injuries, traveled to a freezing Tashkent in poor form, by their own high standards, with just one win in their past five league games. As a result, the Blues have slipped six points behind Pro League leaders Al-Ittihad, making success in Asia even more important.

Yet they never really got going in the first half and, despite finishing the group stage 14 points clear of their opponents, who won just one game out of eight, they were second-best from the start.

Coach Jorge Jesus will be particularly displeased about the goal, conceded just before the half-hour mark, which made this game the eighth out of the past 10 in which his players have failed to keep a clean sheet.

Brayan Riascos sent over a bouncing cross from the right and while it was a dangerous cross, there were three men in blue in place to deal with it. Instead, Brazilian forward Flamarion was able to get in front of the defenders and steer the ball home from just outside the six-yard box. The surprise was not that the Uzbeks had taken the lead but that it had taken so long for it to happen.

The second half began better for the visitors and they started to create chances. Just after the hour mark, Sergej Milinkovic-Savic headed over from close range when Moteb Al-Harbi found him with a cross. Abdullah Al-Hamdan came close to leveling for Al-Hilal but, overall, Pakhtakor deserved the victory and their advantage at the midway point of the tie.

There was better news for Saudi fans in Qatar, as Al-Ahli recorded a 3-1 victory over Al-Rayyan. Galeno grabbed the first for the visitors on the half-hour and Riyad Mahrez added a second just four minutes later. Both goals were created by Roberto Firmino.

The Jeddah side appeared to be taking a huge step towards the last eight but there were still some nerves on display when Roger Guedes fired the ball into the top corner of the net from the edge of the area to cut the deficit in half.

Firmino came close twice before Gabri Veiga appeared to have restored the two-goal advantage, with eight minutes remaining, only for the video assistant referee to intervene and rule the goal out for offside.

Deep into added time, however, Firas Al-Buraikan scored from close range to seal the win and give Al-Ahli a great chance to progress in the competition next week.