Carlos Alcaraz Wins Third-Round Match but Loses ‘Drop-Shot Battle’ at Australian Open

MELBOURNE: Carlos Alcaraz was forced to admit he lost his relegation fight against Corentin Moutet while winning his third round match.

This could be a first for the 22-year-old Spaniard, who grew up shooting drop shots non-stop and is currently chasing his career Grand Slam at the Australian Open.

Left-hander Moutet mixed things up for Alcaraz on an almost festive Friday at the Rod Laver Arena; He keeps the world’s number 1 player on his toes with his shots, cuts, lobs, through shots, volleys and even underarm serves.

“When you play with someone like Corentin, you don’t know what’s going to happen next,” Alcaraz said after the 6-2, 6-4, 6-1 win in the 32nd seed. “I had a lot of fun on the court. As you can see, we both shot great shots. We scored great points.”

Late in the first set, he said he was tired of keeping track of dropped shots and told his support team, “I’m not going to run to get these.”

“I thought we were in a shooting contest,” Alcaraz added with a laugh, “but he won!”

Alcaraz, ever the showman, chimed in with some of his own tricks and tweeners.

In the first round, Moutet was booed by the crowd for performing an underarm serve on match point. There was a lot more love from the crowd at his main arena debut.

After winning the volley late in the game, he celebrated by taking off his hat in an exaggerated way.

Alcaraz will play next Sunday against No. 19 Tommy Paul, who was highlighted when Alejandro Davidovich Fokina withdrew with an injury after losing the first two sets by scores of 6-1 and 6-1.

In the night matches, number 3 Alexander Zverev, who came second last year, beat Cameron Norrie 7-5, 4-6, 6-3, 6-1, while number 6 Alex de Minaur defeated Frances Tiafoe 6-3, 6-4, 7-5.

Sabalenka, Coco Gauff No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka and No. 3 Coco Gauff had tough roads in the third round.

Sabalenka said she sometimes felt like her head, hands and racket were not connected, but she still had enough to get past Anastasia Potapova 7-6 (4), 7-6 (7).

After overcoming some early trouble against Hailey Baptiste, Gauff improved to 3-6, 6-0-6-3, cut down on her simple errors, and stopped making double faults in the second set. She then portrays No. 19, Carolina Muchova.

Sabalenka, chasing her third Australian Open title in four years, took a 6-5, 40-0 lead in the opening set, but Potapova saved all three set points to break the tie.

In the second set, Potapova recovered two breaks of serve and again forced a tiebreak. She then had three set points but Sabalenka recovered as soon as the pressure continued.

“She played incredible tennis,” Sabalenka said. “I was always in the background. There are days when you just have to fight; this was a huge fight.”

Sabalenka won the Australian Open title in 2023 and 2024, finishing second to Madison Keys a year ago.

She will next face 19-year-old Canadian Victoria Mboko, who beat 14th-ranked Clara Tauson 7-6 (5), 5-7, 6-3.

Harika’s advice Another youngster took the lead when 18-year-old Iva Jovic beat number 7 Jasmine Paolini 6-2, 7-6 (3). Jovic said he decided to bat after being broken twice while serving for the match.

Jovic said that some advice he received the day before from 24-time champion Novak Djokovic helped him focus and beat a top 10 player for the first time.

“He gave me very careful tips for my game,” the American said. “That was one of the things that was at the forefront of my mind, because I think when Novak gives you advice, you follow it.”

Next, the Turkish player will play Yulia Putintseva, who ignored the noise of the crowd to end Zeynep Sönmez’s series with scores of 6-3, 6-7 (3), 6-3.

Ukrainian number 12 Elina Svitolina defeated Diana Shnaider from Russia with sets 7-6 (4), 6-3.

Tien-Medvedev visited again. Daniil Medvedev defeated Fabian Marozsan 6-7 (5), 4-6, 7-5, 6-0, 6-3 and won a Grand Slam match for the fifth time, coming from two sets behind.

The 2021 US Open champion’s next match will be a rematch with Learner Tien, who upset him here last year.

Warm-up Due to high temperatures expected at Melbourne Park, play will start an hour earlier than planned on Saturday. The air temperature is predicted to be 40 degrees Celsius (104 F).