MELBOURNE, Australia — Carlos Alcaraz needed to acknowledge that whereas he gained the third-round match, he misplaced the battle of the drop photographs in opposition to Corentin Moutet.
That might be a primary for the 22-year-old Spaniard, who grew up relentlessly training his drop photographs and is now on the Australian Open chasing a profession Grand Slam.
The left-handed Moutet blended issues up for Alcaraz in an virtually pageant Friday vibe on Rod Laver Enviornment, his mix of drop photographs, slice, lobs, tweeners, volleys and even an underarm serve preserving the world’s No. 1-ranked participant on his toes.
“Whenever you play somebody like Corentin you don’t know what’s going to be subsequent,” Alcaraz mentioned after his 6-2, 6-4, 6-1 win over the No. 32 seed. “I had a lot enjoyable on the courtroom. As you can see, we each pulled off nice photographs. Nice factors.”
Late within the first set, he mentioned he was already fed up with monitoring down drop photographs and informed his assist workforce “I’m not going to run to get these.”
“I believed we had been in a drop-shot competitors,” Alcaraz added, laughing, “however he gained!”
Ever the showman, Alcaraz chimed in with a few of his personal tips and tweeners.
Within the first spherical, Moutet was booed by the group for his underarm serve on match level. For his fundamental enviornment debut, there was far more love from the group.
After a successful volley late within the match, he celebrated by extravagantly doffing his cap.
Alcaraz will subsequent play Sunday in opposition to No. 19 Tommy Paul, who superior when Alejandro Davidovich Fokina retired with an harm after dropping the primary two units 6-1, 6-1.
In evening matches, No. 3 Alexander Zverev, the runner-up right here final yr, superior 7-5, 4-6, 6-3, 6-1 over Cameron Norrie and No. 6 Alex de Minaur ousted Frances Tiafoe 6-3, 6-4, 7-5. De Minuar subsequent performs No. 10 Alexander Bublik.
Sabalenka, Coco Gauff advance
No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka and No. 3 Coco Gauff had powerful routes by means of the third spherical.
Sabalenka mentioned there have been instances she felt like her head, her palms and her racket weren’t linked however she nonetheless had simply sufficient to squeeze previous Anastasia Potapova 7-6 (4), 7-6 (7).
Gauff weathered early bother in opposition to Hailey Baptiste earlier than advancing 3-6, 6-0-6-3, chopping down her unforced errors and never serving any double-faults within the second set. She subsequent performs No. 19 Karolina Muchova.
Sabalenka, chasing her third Australian Open title in 4 years, led 6-5 and 40-0 in her opening set however Potapova saved all three set factors to ship it to a tiebreaker.
Within the second set, Potapova recovered two service breaks and once more power a tiebreaker. She then had three set factors however Sabalenka rallied when the strain was on.
“She performed unimaginable tennis,” Sabalenka mentioned. “I used to be at all times on the again foot. There are days the place you simply must battle — it was such a battle.”
Sabalenka gained the Australian Open title in 2023 and 2024 and was the runner-up a yr in the past to Madison Keys.
She subsequent faces 19-year-old Canadian Victoria Mboko, who was considered one of three youngsters advancing on Day 6.
The 18-year-old Iva Jovic beat No. 7 Jasmine Paolini 6-2, 7-6 (3), after getting some recommendation from 24-time main winner Novak Djokovic.
“He gave me some very attentive ideas for my recreation,” the American mentioned. “That was one of many issues within the forefront of my thoughts, as a result of I feel when Novak provides you some recommendation, you observe it.”
She’ll subsequent play Yulia Putintseva, who shrugged off a vocal crowd to finish Turkish participant Zeynep Sonmez’s run, 6-3, 6-7 (3), 6-3.
No. 8 Mirra Andreeva, who at 18 is into the fourth spherical in Australia for the third straight yr, will subsequent play No. 12 Elina Svitolina of Ukraine, who beat Diana Shnaider of Russia 7-6 (4), 6-3.
Daniil Medvedev rallied for a 6-7 (5), 4-6, 7-5, 6-0, 6-3 victory over Fabian Marozsan, the fifth time he is rallied from two-sets right down to win a Grand Slam match.
The 2021 U.S. Open champion subsequent has a rematch with Learner Tien, who upset him right here final yr.
Play will start an hour earlier than initially scheduled Saturday due to excessive temperatures anticipated at Melbourne Park. The forecast is for a excessive of 40 levels Celsius (104 F).
