Alcaraz maintains focus, defeats Moutet decisively at the Australian Open.
MELBOURNE, Australia — Carlos Alcaraz recognized that although he triumphed in the third-round match, he was outperformed in the drop shot exchanges against Corentin Moutet.
This may be a rare occurrence for the 22-year-old Spaniard, who has consistently honed his drop shot skills and is currently competing at the Australian Open in pursuit of a career Grand Slam.
The left-handed Moutet provided a challenging dynamic for Alcaraz in an almost festive atmosphere on Rod Laver Arena, utilizing a mix of drop shots, slices, tweeners, half-volleys, angled volleys, and even an underarm serve to keep the world’s top-ranked player alert.
The 6-2, 6-4, 6-1 victory over the No. 32 seed seemed to suggest a straightforward match, but the reality was far from ordinary.
“When you face someone like Corentin, you can never predict what will happen next,” Alcaraz stated during his on-court television interview. “I had a lot of fun out there. As you could see, we both executed some impressive shots. Great points.”
Alcaraz chuckled as he recalled his surprise towards the end of the first set when he grew weary of chasing down drop shots and told his support team, “I’m not going to run for those.”
“I was exhausted from moving forward to the net,” he mentioned, adding that he had checked the statistics and — with a slight exaggeration — thought, “I’ve been to the net 55 times?”
“I felt like we were in a drop-shot contest, but he came out on top!”
There were tense moments, particularly in the second set when Alcaraz relinquished a 3-0 advantage as the 26-year-old Frenchman went on a four-game streak.
As a performer himself, Alcaraz responded with some of his own tricks and tweeners, which helped him maintain his composure.
In the first round, Moutet faced boos from the crowd for his underarm serve on match point. However, he received a much warmer reception from the Australian audience this time.
After winning a point late in the match with a precise, deep lob into the corner, he celebrated with an iconic fist pump.
When he secured that game with a winning volley, he acknowledged it by tipping his cap.
Alcaraz’s next match will be on Sunday against No. 19 Tommy Paul, who progressed after Alejandro Davidovich Fokina retired due to injury after losing the first two sets 6-1, 6-1.
“We have great battles against each other,” Alcaraz remarked. “The matches between us always showcase a high level.”
In other men’s matches on Friday, Daniil Medvedev came back from two sets down to achieve a 6-7 (5), 4-6, 7-5, 6-0, 6-3 victory over Fabian Marozsan, marking the fifth time he has rallied from 0-2 to win a Grand Slam match.
“I was not composed after the first set because I was frustrated with my performance. It affected me in the second,” Medvedev, the 2021 U.S. Open champion and three-time Australian Open finalist, stated. In the third, “I had to really let go of that. Just focus on what I needed to do.”
He accomplished that, and now he faces a rematch with Learner Tien, the American who defeated him in a second-round five-set match here last year.
The 25th-seeded Tien advanced to the fourth round again with a 7-6 (9), 6-4, 6-2 victory over Nuno Borges.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Source: espn.com
