Carlos Alcaraz has easily reached the fourth round of the Australian Open. The number 2 in the world saw the Chinese Juncheng Shang, admitted with a wild card, retire in the third round with a thigh injury. After an hour and 6 minutes it was already 6-1, 6-1, 1-0 for the Spaniard.
“This is not the way you want to reach the next round. I want to wish him a speedy recovery. He is a great player and has started the year incredibly. I was looking forward to playing this match, but unfortunately he was not in the best possible shape,” Alcaraz said on court afterwards.
Remarkably, Alcaraz played against an opponent younger than him for the first time on tour. Shang is 18 years old, Alcaraz two years older.
Alcaraz has never reached the fourth round in Melbourne before. Last year he missed due to an injury and in the years before that he reached the second (2021) and third round (2022).
Alcaraz will compete against Serbian Miomir Kecmanovic for a place in the quarter-finals. The number 60 in the world fought past the American Tommy Paul in five sets. The score was 6-4, 3-6, 2-6, 7-6 (7), 6-0. Paul missed two match points in the fourth set tiebreak and looked dejected in the fifth set.
Paul, seeded fourteenth, surprisingly reached the last four in Melbourne last year. Novak Djokovic then defeated him in three sets.
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