MANCHESTER, England: Erling Haaland scored a hat trick for the second straight game as Manchester City thrashed Nottingham Forest 6-0 in the Premier League on Wednesday.
All of the Norway striker’s goals came in the first half at Etihad Stadium, before Joao Cancelo scored a fourth and Julian Alvarez added two more — his first goals for City since his offseason arrival from River Plate — in the second half in the champions’ fourth win in five games of their title defense.
Haaland’s three goals against Crystal Palace on Saturday came in a 19-minute burst in the second half and he did all his damage against Forest in the space of 26 minutes before halftime, taking his record to a league-leading nine goals.
Haaland outmuscled his marker to poke home a cross from Phil Foden in the 12th minute and then tapped into an unguarded net in the 23rd after Foden was tackled by Neco Williams just as the winger was about to shoot. By that point, Haaland had only had four touches of the ball.
His hat-trick goal came in the 38th and again it was from close range when he nodded home from a central position after John Stones headed the ball back across the face of goal.
Cancelo scored the best goal of the night, smashing a rising shot high into the net from outside the area in the 50th minute and City manager Pep Guardiola was again punching the air when Alvarez, making his first start for City, ran onto Riyad Mahrez’s pass and slipped a finish between goalkeeper Dean Henderson’s legs.
Alvarez compounded Forest’s misery by firing a shot in off the underside of the crossbar in the 87th at the end of a counterattack.
City has scored 19 goals in its five games, the most in the league.
Haaland scores another hat trick, City thrashes Forest 6-0
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Haaland scores another hat trick, City thrashes Forest 6-0
Alcaraz powers into Indian Wells quarter-finals
- Alcaraz will next face 2021 champion Cameron Norrie, who earlier beat Australia’s Rinky Hijikata 6-4 6-2
World number one Carlos Alcaraz continued his dominant run at Indian Wells, beating Norway’s Casper Ruud 6-1 7-6(2) on Wednesday to reach the quarter-finals in the California desert.
The Spaniard relied on a near-flawless service game to seize control of the match, racing through the opening set in just 37 minutes after breaking Ruud’s serve three times.
Thirteenth-seeded Ruud raised his level in the second set and forced a tiebreak, hoping to push the match to a decider, but Alcaraz kept his foot on the gas to seal his 15th consecutive victory of the season to reach the quarter-finals for a fifth straight year.
“The conditions were difficult to be honest. Today the ball was tough to control but we both played great,” two-time champion Alcaraz said in his on-court interview.
“My first set was incredible I’m really happy of playing that kind of level, really happy to get through and hopefully I’ll play this level on the next round.”
Alcaraz will next face 2021 champion Cameron Norrie, who earlier beat Australia’s Rinky Hijikata 6-4 6-2, with the Spaniard looking to avenge a defeat to the Briton at last year’s Paris Masters.
SWIATEK, PEGULA THROUGH
World number two Iga Swiatek delivered a dominant 6-2 6-0 victory over Czech 13th seed Karolina Muchova, reeling off 10 consecutive games to secure her fifth win over the Czech, whom she also beat at the same stage of the tournament last year.
“I felt I was playing better and better, just great,” Swiatek said.
“I love playing here ... It’s a great place to play tennis, hopefully I can keep doing that until the end.”
Swiatek, chasing a third Indian Wells title, will face ninth seed Elina Svitolina in the quarter-finals after the Ukrainian advanced when Katerina Siniakova retired injured.
American fifth seed Jessica Pegula overcame Belinda Bencic 6-3 7-6(5) to secure her first victory in five meetings between the pair.
Pegula, coming off a dramatic comeback win over Jelena Ostapenko, took control as she clinched the opening set — her first ever against the Swiss — before edging a tightly contested tiebreak to close out the match.
Russian 11th seed Daniil Medvedev beat Alex Michelsen 6-2 6-4 in a commanding performance, needing just one hour and 27 minutes to dismantle the American and maintain his strong form after winning last month’s Dubai Open.
