MELBOURNE, Australia — Carlos Alcaraz admitted that though he triumphed in the third-round match, he lost the drop shot duel against Corentin Moutet.
This might be a first for the 22-year-old Spaniard, who devoted much of his early training to mastering drop shots and is now striving for a career Grand Slam at the Australian Open.
The left-handed Moutet created a lively atmosphere for Alcaraz on Rod Laver Arena, employing an array of drop shots, slices, tweeners, half-volleys, angled volleys, and even an underarm serve, keeping the world’s No. 1 player alert.
The 6-2, 6-4, 6-1 victory over the No. 32 seed seemed straightforward, but the match was anything but ordinary.
“When you face someone like Corentin, you can never predict what’s coming next,” Alcaraz mentioned in his on-court interview. “I really enjoyed myself out there. As you saw, we both executed some fantastic shots. Great points.”
Alcaraz chuckled when recalling how, towards the end of the first set, he expressed his frustration about chasing after drop shots, saying to his team, “I’m not going to run for those.”
“I was tired of rushing to the net,” he added, and with a touch of exaggeration said, “I must have gone to the net 55 times?”
“I thought we were in a drop-shot contest, but he won!”
There were tense moments, especially in the second set when Alcaraz lost a 3-0 lead as the 26-year-old Moutet went on to win four consecutive games.
Alcaraz, the entertainer, countered with some of his own flashy shots and tweeners, helping him maintain his composure.
In the first round, Moutet received boos for his underarm serve on match point. This time, the Australian crowd showed him much more affection.
After winning a point later in the match with a perfectly placed lob, he celebrated with an iconic fist pump.
When he clinched that game with a winning volley, he acknowledged it with a tip of his cap.
Next, Alcaraz will face No. 19 Tommy Paul on Sunday, who advanced after Alejandro Davidovich Fokina retired due to injury, having lost the first two sets 6-1, 6-1.
“We have great battles against each other,” Alcaraz remarked. “Our matches are always of high quality.”
In other men’s matches on Friday, Daniil Medvedev staged a comeback from two sets down to win 6-7 (5), 4-6, 7-5, 6-0, 6-3 over Fabian Marozsan, marking the fifth time he has rallied from 0-2 in a Grand Slam match.
“I wasn’t composed after the first set because I was frustrated with myself for not performing better. It affected me in the second,” said Medvedev, the 2021 U.S. Open champion and three-time Australian Open runner-up. In the third set, “I had to really let go of my frustration and focus on what I needed to do.”
He accomplished that and will now face Learner Tien, the American who defeated him in a second-round five-setter here last year.
The 25th-seeded Tien moved 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.
