MELBOURNE, Australia – Carlos Alcaraz acknowledged that even though he won the third-round match, he lost the drop shot battle against Corentin Moutet.
That could be a first for the 22-year-old Spaniard, who grew up relentlessly practicing his drop shots and is now chasing a Grand Slam career at the Australian Open.
The left-handed Moutet mixed things up for Alcaraz in an almost festival-like Friday atmosphere at Rod Laver Arena. His mix of drop shots, slices, tweeners, half-volleys, angled volleys and even an underarm serve kept the world number 1 player on his toes.
The 6-2, 6-4, 6-1 victory over number 32 looked like a fairly convincing result, but the match was anything but routine.
“When you play against someone like Corentin, you don’t know what the next step will be,” Alcaraz said in his on-field TV interview. “I had so much fun on the court. As you could see, we both made great shots. Great points.”
Alcaraz laughed as he reflected on his surprise at the end of the first set, when he got tired of tracking down drop shots and told his support team, “I’m not going to run to get that one.”
“I was tired going to the net,” he said. “I thought we were in a drop shot match, but he won!”
Of course there were moments of tension, such as in the second set when Alcaraz relinquished a 3-0 lead when the 26-year-old Frenchman made a four-game roll.
Ever the showman himself, Alcaraz performed some of his own tricks and tweeners in three sets. It helped him stay calm.
In the first round, Moutet was booed by the crowd for his underarm serve on match point. There was a lot more love from the Australian crowd for his debut in the main arena.
After winning a point near the end of the match with a perfect deep lob into the corner, he delivered an iconic fist-pump celebration.
When he sustained that game with a winning volley, he marked it by removing his cap.
Alcaraz will play the following Sunday against No. 19 Tommy Paul, who advanced when Alejandro Davidovich Fokina retired with an injury after losing the first two sets 6-1, 6-1.
Sabalenka, Coco Gauff in advance
No. No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka and No. 3 Coco Gauff had tough routes through the third round.
Sabalenka said that at times it felt like her head, her hands and her racket were disconnected, but she still had just enough to get past Anastasia Potapova 7-6 (4), 7-6 (7).
Gauff weathered early trouble against Hailey Baptiste before advancing 3-6, 6-0-6-3, reducing her unforced errors and serving no double faults in the second set.
Sabalenka, chasing her third Australian Open title in four years, led 6-5, 40-0 in her opening set, but Potapova saved all three set points to send the tiebreak to a tiebreak. Sabalenka led 3-0 in the tiebreak before Potapova leveled at 3-3.
Sabalenka still had two set points and took the set when she hit a backhand down the line.
Potapova recovered two service breaks in the second to make it 4-4 and then force another tiebreak. Potapova had three set points in the tiebreak, but Sabalenka rallied when the pressure was on.
“She played fantastic tennis,” Sabalenka said. “I was always in the background. There are days when you just have to fight – it was that kind of fight.”
Sabalenka won the Australian Open title in 2023 and 2024 and was runner-up to Madison Keys a year ago.
She next faces rising star Victoria Mboko, who defeated 14th seed Clara Tauson 7-6 (5), 5-7, 6-3.
“I never really talked to her, never had a chance to hit, to practice with her. I was watching a few games,” Sabalenka said of the Canadian teenager. “Yes, she is a great player. She is a fighter. She plays very good, aggressive tennis.”
Yulia Putintseva shook off the rowdy crowd to end the run of Turkish player Zeynep Sonmez, 6-3, 6-7 (3), 6-3.
Daniil Medvedev rallied from two sets down for a 6-7 (5), 4-6, 7-5, 6-0, 6-3 comeback win over Fabian Marozsan, the fifth time he has come from 0-2 down to win a Grand Slam match.
“I wasn’t calm after the first set because I was angry with myself for not doing better. It cost me in the second set,” said Medvedev, the 2021 US Open champion and three-time Australian Open runner-up. In the third: “I really had to let it go. Just think about what I have to do.”
He did that, and now he finds himself in a rematch with Learner Tien, the American who upset him in a five-setter in the second round last year.
The 25th-seeded Tien again advanced to the fourth round with a 7-6 (9), 6-4, 6-2 victory over Nuno Borges.
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