Carlos Alcaraz finally lost a set at the Australian Open on Friday, but the third-seeded Spaniard still powered to a third-round victory in Melbourne.
Alcaraz downed Portugal’s Nuno Borges 6-2, 6-4, 6-7 (3), 6-2 in just under three hours.
In his prior matches this week, Alcaraz was never even pushed to a tiebreaker while winning 6-0 or 6-1 in four of his six sets.
For the first time in this year’s tournament, Alcaraz played on the primary court, Rod Laver Arena.
“I missed Rod Laver. I’m just really, really happy to be able to play here once again,” Alcaraz said. “I tried to show my best tennis here. For me, it has been a pleasure every time that I step on this court. … The last time that I played here I lost (to Alexander Zverev in the quarterfinals last year), so I really wanted to play here and get another win here in Rod Laver.”
Alcaraz’s fourth-round foe will be 15th-seeded Jack Draper of Great Britain, who outlasted Australia’s Aleksandar Vukic 6-4, 2-6, 5-7, 7-6 (5), 7-6 (8) in just over four hours.
In another match on Friday’s evening slate, No. 7 Novak Djokovic of Serbia sailed to a 6-1, 6-4, 6-4 win over No. 26 Tomas Machac of the Czech Republic.
Djokovic rang up 28 winners as the 10-time champion reached the fourth round here for the 17th time.
“I think I played really well, honestly. I’m very happy with my game,” Djokovic said. “I am slightly surprised with the result, to beat him in straight sets. … He was a break up early in the second, I struggled physically there. I tried to catch my breath, I’m not 19 anymore.”
Should Djokovic and Alcaraz keep advancing, they would meet in the quarterfinals.
Alcaraz is aiming to complete a career Grand Slam at the Australian Open, having already won at Wimbledon twice (2023, 2024) as well as the U.S. Open in 2022 and the French Open last year. At age 21, he would become the youngest to sweep the Grand Slam should he accomplish the feat during the current fortnight.
Elsewhere on Friday, second-seeded Zverev of Germany topped Great Britain’s Jacob Fearnley 6-3, 6-4, 6-4. The players were nearly level in terms of winners (27-25 edge for Fearnley), but the Brit was done in by committing 34 unforced errors to Zverev’s 15.
No. 12 Tommy Paul of the United States pulled away for a 7-6 (0), 6-2, 6-0 victory over Roberto Carballes Baena. The Spaniard committed 10 double faults and won just nine of his 44 second-serve points (20 percent).
No. 14 Ugo Humbert was leading fellow Frenchman Arthur Fils 4-6, 7-5, 6-4, 1-0 when the No. 20 seed retired. No. 24 Jiri Lehecka dominated France’s Benjamin Bonzi 6-2, 6-3, 6-3. Spain’s Alejandro Davidovich Fokina saved two match points and rallied for a 3-6, 4-6, 7-6 (7), 6-4, 6-2 defeat of Czech teen Jakub Mensik.
–Field Level Media
