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Carlos Alcaraz is in the third round of the Australian Open. Alexander Zverev pulls his head out of the noose.
Legend:
Defeated against Sonego
Carlos Alcaraz.
Keystone/EPA/JAMES ROSS AUSTRALIA AND NEW ZEALAND OUT
The top 10 players
- Carlos Alcaraz (ESP/ATP 2) s. Lorenzo Sonego (ITA/ATP 46) 6:4, 6:7 (3:7), 6:3, 7:6 (7:3)
- Alexander Zverev (GER/ATP 6) s. Lukas Klein (SVK/ATP 163) 7:5, 3:6, 4:6, 7:6 (7:5), 7:6 (10:7)
After a great second round game Carlos Alcaraz reached the third round of the Australian Open for the second time in his career. The world number 2 from Spain had to fight hard for the first time against the in-form Lorenzo Sonego and needed three and a half hours to win the four sets. Afterwards, the 20-year-old was very satisfied: “It was a game at a very high level from both of them.”
One of the high-class rallies between Alcaraz and Sonego:
“Actually, my opponent deserved to win more,” said Alexander Zverev in the winner’s interview. In fact, Lukas Klein probably played the game of his life in the John Cain Arena – and yet the 25-year-old Slovakian had to congratulate the overwhelming favorite on his progress after a four and a half hour battle of attrition.
Klein came very close to the big sensation twice. With a 2-1 set lead behind her, the world number 163 was leading 3-1 in the tiebreak of the 4th round. And in the match tiebreak of the deciding set, Klein held his own against Zverev for a long time before the German pulled his head out of the noose at 7:7 with 3 points in a row.
Ruud also continues to shake
Practically at the same time as Zverev could Casper Ruud (ATP 11) breathe deeply. The Norwegian had a thrilling duel with Australian local hero Max Purcell (ATP 45), which also went the full distance. In the match tiebreak, Ruud made things clear early on by pulling away to 7-2.
Driven by the home crowd, Purcell managed to catch up again and got within 6:7 and 7:8. But Ruud didn’t allow any more, after 3:50 hours the three-time Grand Slam finalist used his first match point to make it 6:3, 6:7 (5:7), 6:3, 3:6, 7:6 (10:7) victory.
Indian fairy tale already over
With Cameron Norrie (ATP 22) there was also a third seed in the day session with one leg already on the plane home. The Brit lost the first two rounds to the Italian Giulio Zeppieri (ATP 133) before a long rain break, among other things, completely turned the dynamics of the game upside down. Finally, after 3:36 hours, Norrie won 3:6, 6:7 (4:7), 6:2, 6:4, 6:4.
The run of Sumit Nagal (ATP 137) has now come to an end. The Indian, who surprisingly eliminated Alexander Bublik (ATP 27) in the first round, failed against the Chinese Juncheng Shang (ATP 140) 6:2, 3:6, 5:7, 4:6.