LAST UPDATE | 31 Dec 1899
WORLD NUMBER TWO Carlos Alcaraz dropped a set Thursday before rediscovering his mojo to battle into the Australian Open third round, coming good when it mattered.
The 20-year-old Spaniard was put through his paces by Italy’s Lorenzo Sonego before prevailing 6-4, 6-7 (3/7), 6-3, 7-6 (7/3) on Rod Laver Arena.
Two-time major champion and second seed Alcaraz will meet either Indian qualifier Sunmit Nagal or Chinese wildcard Shang Juncheng next as he ramps up his drive towards a maiden title in Melbourne.
“I’m really happy with my performance today,” said Alcaraz, who missed last year’s opening Grand Slam of the year with an injury.
“Both of us played such a great level, high intensity. The match was a bit tricky with the wind and sun, tough to play my best.
“Even if I lost the second set, I think I played a good game.”
The second seed had a stellar 2023, lifting six tour-level trophies.
He also constantly battled for the number one spot with 10-time Australian Open champion Novak Djokovic and has the opportunity to seize back the top ranking in Melbourne.
Alcaraz took time to find his rhythm against Sonego but pounced in game seven, triggering a baseline error from the Italian to earn a break before closing out the first set.
It was equally tight in the second set, which went to a tie-break. Sonego broke early and held on to level the match.
The setback sparked a new lease of life from Alcaraz, who stepped up a gear to seize back control with some scintillating groundstrokes in the third set before encountering more stiff resistence from Sonego in the fourth.
The again went to a tie-break and Alcaraz once again dug deep to seal the win.
World number six Alexander Zverev said he felt like a spectator and that Slovak qualifier Lukas Klein deserved to win after being pushed to the limit.
Facing a second consecutive second-round exit in Melbourne, the German rallied to come through 7-5, 3-6, 4-6, 7-6 (7/5), 7-6 (10/7) after a gripping contest stretching to four-and-a-half hours on Margaret Court Arena.
But it was major wake-up call for the sixth seed against a player ranked 163, in only his second Grand Slam, and who currently has no coach.
His reward is a third-round clash with unseeded American Alex Michelsen.
“He played extremely well. He played very, very aggressive, hitting every single ball as hard as he could from both sides,” said Zverev.
“A lot of the times I was a spectator in the match. I was just witnessing whether he’s going to hit a winner or miss. That’s not a nice feeling to be in, especially in the important moments.
“To be honest, he probably deserved to win the match more than me today, but that’s tennis sometimes.”
Zverev, who is facing a trial in May for allegedly assaulting his former girlfriend in 2020, an accusation he denies, had also struggled in his first-round match, dropping a set.
The 26-year-old admitted he knew nothing about Klein.
“I didn’t know him at all. To be honest, if he would have been in a room, I would have not known that he’s my opponent,” he said.
Iga Swiatek, meanwhile, refused to reveal the song she was listening to on her headphones as the Polish world number one battled back in thrilling fashion from 4-1 down in the third set to beat former finalist Danielle Collins 6-4, 3-6, 6-4.
Swiatek said she was grooving to a Rolling Stones song when she came onto Rod Laver Arena on day five of the tournament in Melbourne.
“I feel like when I’m really well-focused I am kind of repeating the same song throughout the whole match,” she said.
“It gives me energy and I can kind of narrow my focus just to that song that I keep hearing and the technical stuff that I want to think about.
“I don’t like when my brain is kind of picking up the songs from the changeovers because every time is a different one. I want to keep, yeah, hearing The Rolling Stones.”
But the four-time Grand Slam champion was coy when asked which exact song she had chosen, fearing there was a danger it could be over-played.
“I don’t want to say because I already said couple of times — it became like the anthem of the tournament or whatever,” she said.
“It ruined it a little bit for me. I don’t want to say.
“I had on my first Roland Garros that I won, ‘Welcome to the Jungle’ (by Guns N’ Roses). I couldn’t even hear it ever again because of all this fuss that this song made.”
Swiatek was up a set and a break in her second-round match before faltering badly and slipping to a 4-1 deficit in the deciding set.
But just as she appeared to be heading home, she reeled off five straight games to win 6-4, 3-6, 6-4 and extend her winning run to 18 matches.
“Oh my God, I was at the airport already,” said Swiatek, who has never won the Australian Open.
American world number five Jessica Pegula Thursday became the highest seed to depart, upset by young French star Clara Burel 6-4, 6-2.
The fifth seed had no answers to the 22-year-old, who set up an all-French third-round clash with Oceane Dodin, conqueror of Italy’s Martina Trevisan.
“I’m still shaking,” said Burel, who has never gone beyond a Grand Slam second round before. “I’m just really happy to be through.
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