"He's top five now; this is a guy who has the mindset of a champion" - Tracy Austin on Carlos Alcaraz defending his title at Umag

Former WTA No. 1 Tracy Austin reckons Carlos Alcaraz has the mentality of a champion after the Spaniard moved within three wins of a first title defense at the Croatia Open in Umag.

Alcaraz, 19, has been one of the standout players on tour. The teenager brought up his 40th win of the season on Thursday at the Croatia Open, beating Norbert Gombos for the loss of just five games. The new World No. 5 made short work of Gombos but was made to work hard on serve - saving seven break points - to reach his eighth quarterfinal of the season.

In an interaction on Tennis TV, Austin said that Alcaraz has entered the tournament with the mentality of winning the next match and not looking too far ahead.

"I think a guy like this, he's probably not thinking about (defending a title). He's top five now. It's not going to really matter (defending a title). This is a guy who has a mindset: 'Give me the balls. I will win the match today. Who do I play next?' That's the kind of mindset of a champion, not like I have to defend something. That's not the way you get the job done second time around," Austin said.

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"It was a really tough match" - Carlos Alcaraz after winning Umag opener

Carlos Alcaraz is through to the Umag quarterfinals

Carlos Alcaraz is coming off a run to the final in Hamburg last week, where Lorenzo Musetti foiled his bid to become the third player to win their first six ATP finals.

Nevertheless, Alcaraz has had a season to remember, racking up a joint tour-leading four titles - including Masters 1000 triumphs in Miami and Madrid. Following his win over Gombos on Thursday, Alcaraz said that the match was not as easy as the scoreline (6-2, 6-3) suggested, but he found a way to win.

“It was a really tough match,” said Alcaraz. "It wasn’t as easy as the result seems. Norbert played a really good game, and the first round of every tournament is never easy, so I had to get used to the conditons. It was tough for me, but at the end I found a way to play better and get the win.”

With the win - his 25th in 28 matches on clay this season - Alcaraz has progressed to the quarterfinals, where he'll take on Facundo Bagnis on Friday.