Carlos Alcaraz wins third-round match but loses ‘drop-shot battle’ at Australian Open

MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) — Carlos Alcaraz had to acknowledge that while he won the third-round match, he lost the battle of the drop shots 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 at the Australian Open chasing a career Grand Slam.

The left-handed Moutet mixed things up for Alcaraz in an almost festival Friday vibe on Rod Laver Arena, his blend of drop shots, slice, lobs, tweeners, volleys and even an underarm serve keeping the world’s No. 1-ranked player on his toes.

“When you play someone like Corentin you don’t know what’s going to be next,” Alcaraz said after his 6-2, 6-4, 6-1 win over the No. 32 seed. “I had so much fun on the court. As you could see, we both pulled off great shots. Great points.”

Late in the first set, he said he was already fed up with tracking down drop shots and told his support team “I’m not going to run to get those.”

“I thought we were in a drop-shot competition,” he said, laughing, “but he won!”

Ever the showman, Alcaraz chimed in with some of his own tricks and tweeners across three sets. It helped him stay composed, even when Moutet went on a four-game roll in the second set.

In the first round, Moutet was booed by the crowd for his underarm serve on match point. For his debut on the main arena, there was much more love from the Aussie crowd.

When he held in that game with a winning volley, he marked it by doffing his cap.

Alcaraz will next play Sunday against No. 19 Tommy Paul, who advanced when Alejandro Davidovich Fokina retired with an injury after dropping the first two sets 6-1, 6-1.

Sabalenka, Coco Gauff advance

No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka and No. 3 Coco Gauff had tough routes through the third round.

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

Gauff weathered early trouble against Hailey Baptiste before advancing 3-6, 6-0-6-3, cutting down her unforced errors and not serving any double-faults in the second set.

Sabalenka , chasing her third Australian Open title in four years, led 6-5 and 40-0 in her opening set but Potapova saved all three set points to send it to a tiebreaker.

In the second set, Potapova recovered two service breaks to level it at 4-4 and then again force a tiebreaker. Potapova then had three set points but Sabalenka rallied when the pressure was on.

“She played incredible tennis,” Sabalenka said. “I was always on the back foot. There are days where you just have to fight — it was such a fight.”

Sabalenka won the Australian Open title in 2023 and 2024 and was the runner-up a year ago to Madison Keys.

She next faces rising star Victoria Mboko, who beat 14th-seeded Clara Tauson 7-6 (5), 5-7, 6-3.

Sabalenka said she watched some of the Canadian teenager’s matches and made notes: “She’s a fighter. She’s playing really good, aggressive tennis.”

Another teenager advanced when 18-year-old Iva Jovic beat No. 7 Jasmine Paolini 6-2, 7-6 (3). Jovic said after being broken twice while serving for the match that she decided to go out swinging.

She’ll next play Yulia Putintseva, who shrugged off a vocal and mostly unfriendly crowd to end Turkish player Zeynep Sonmez ‘s run, 6-3, 6-7 (3), 6-3.

Tien-Medvedev revisited

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’s rallied from 0-2 to win a Grand Slam match.

“I was not calm after the first set because I was mad at myself for not doing better. It cost me in the second,” Medvedev, the 2021 U.S. Open champion and three-time Australian Open runner-up, said. In the third, “I had to really let it go. Just think about what I need to do.”

He did that, and now he into a rematch with Learner Tien, the American who upset him in a second-round five-setter here last year.

The 25th-seeded Tien advanced to the fourth round again with a 7-6 (9), 6-4, 6-2 win over Nuno Borges.

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