MELBOURNE, Australia — Top-seeded Carlos Alcaraz reached the third round Wednesday at the Australian Open, defeating Germany’s Yannick Hanfmann in a tough match for the Spaniard, who prevailed 7-6 (4), 6-3, 6-2.
“I knew [Hanfmann] was going to play great,” Alcaraz said. “I knew his level. We’d played a few times already. But to be honest, it was tougher than I thought.”
“The ball was coming as a bomb — forehand, backhand, so I had to be ready for that,” Alcaraz added of Hanfmann’s shotmaking.
Alcaraz, 22, is trying to win his first title at Melbourne Park to become the youngest man to complete a career Grand Slam.
In other men’s results, 2021 US Open winner and 11th-seeded Daniil Medvedev beat Quentin Halys 6-7 (9), 6-3, 6-4, 6-2; 13th-seeded Andrey Rublev beat Jaime Faria 6-4, 6-3, 4-6, 7-5; and 19th-seeded Tommy Paul defeated Thiago Agustin Tirante 6-3, 6-4, 6-2.
Also, 14th-seeded Alejandro Davidovich Fokina won the first two sets but then struggled to beat American Reilly Opelka 6-3, 7-6 (3), 5-7, 4-6, 6-4.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
