{"id":37013,"date":"2026-01-21T12:04:29","date_gmt":"2026-01-21T12:04:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/?p=37013"},"modified":"2026-01-21T12:04:29","modified_gmt":"2026-01-21T12:04:29","slug":"alcaraz-sabalenka-surge-into-ao","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/?p=37013","title":{"rendered":"Alcaraz, Sabalenka surge into AO"},"content":{"rendered":"
Top-ranked Carlos Alcaraz fended off a series of “bombs” before surging into the Australian Open third round on Wednesday, where he was joined by Aryna Sabalenka and a near-flawless Coco Gauff.<\/p>\n

Three-time finalist Daniil Medvedev also stayed alive, but he needed four sets to keep his Grand Slam dream on track at a cooler and overcast Melbourne Park after days of hot weather.<\/p>\n

Spanish superstar Alcaraz came through a tough arm-wrestle 7-6 (7\/4), 6-3, 6-2 on Rod Laver Arena against hard-hitting German Yannick Hanfmann to take another step towards a career Grand Slam.<\/p>\n

But he was put through his paces by a player 12 years older before setting up a showdown with either France’s Corentin Moutet or American Michael Zheng.<\/p>\n

“To be honest, it was tougher than I thought at the beginning,” said Alcaraz, who already has six major titles but has never gone past the last eight in Melbourne.<\/p>\n

“I didn’t feel the ball that good. You know, the ball was coming as a bomb, forehand and backhand.”<\/p>\n

If the 22-year-old does win the Australia Open to complete the career Grand Slam of all four majors he will be the youngest man to do so, surpassing compatriot Rafael Nadal.<\/p>\n

The unpredictable Medvedev, runner-up in 2021, 2022 and 2024, is trying to keep his emotions in check this year and was on his best behaviour against Frenchman Quentin Halys.<\/p>\n

He lost a tight first set but the result was never in doubt as he surged to the finish line 6-7 (9\/11), 6-3, 6-4, 6-2.<\/p>\n

“It was a very tough match, happy I managed to fight,” said the Russian, who faces Fabian Marozsan of Hungary next.<\/p>\n

American Tommy Paul, Argentina’s Francisco Cerundolo and Tomas Etcheverry, Spaniard Alejandro Davidovich Fokina and Russian Andrey Rublev also safely negotiated the second round.<\/p>\n

Alexander Zverev is in action in an evening match against France’s Alexandre Muller, the latest challenge in the German’s decade-long quest for a first Grand Slam title.<\/p>\n

The world number three, runner-up last year to Jannik Sinner, dropped a set in his opening clash but said it was good to be stretched early in the tournament.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

‘Near perfect’<\/p>\n

Four-time major winner Sabalenka raced 5-0 clear of qualifier Bai Zhuoxuan, ranked a lowly 702, on centre court before wobbling to give the Chinese player a glimmer of hope.<\/p>\n

But the top seed quickly snuffed it out to race home 6-3, 6-1 and set up a clash next with Russian-born Anastasia Potapova, now representing Austria, who dispatched 2021 US Open champion Emma Raducanu.<\/p>\n

“Super-happy to close the (first) set, it gives me confidence that my game is there, my focus is there,” said Sabalenka, who is bidding for a third Australian Open title in four years.<\/p>\n

“Step by step. Super-happy with my win. There is always a little gap to improve.”<\/p>\n

Sabalenka has dropped just nine games so far as she looks to make amends for her upset in last year’s final to Madison Keys.<\/p>\n

Third seed Gauff was clinical against Serbia’s Olga Danilovic, who ended Venus Williams’ tournament in round one.<\/p>\n

The two-time major winner took just 78 minutes to race home 6-2, 6-2 on Margaret Court Arena.<\/p>\n

It set up a showdown next against fellow American Hailey Baptiste, ranked 70, who downed home hope Storm Hunter in straight sets.<\/p>\n

“Near perfect,” said Gauff, whose best performance in Melbourne was a semi-final in 2024.<\/p>\n

Ukrainian 12th seed Elina Svitolina, Turkish prospect Zeynep Sonmez and in-form Canadian teenager Victoria Mboko also won on day four, all sweeping past their opponents in straight sets.<\/p>\n

Home hopes dominate the evening action on centre court with sixth seed Alex de Minaur facing Serbia’s Hamad Medjedovic before Priscilla Hon meets American Iva Jovic.<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Top-ranked Carlos Alcaraz fended off a series of “bombs” before surging into the Australian Open third round on Wednesday, where he was joined by Aryna Sabalenka and a near-flawless Coco Gauff. Three-time finalist Daniil Medvedev also stayed alive, but he needed four sets to keep his Grand Slam dream on track at a cooler and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-37013","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-english-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37013","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=37013"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37013\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=37013"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=37013"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=37013"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}