Carlos Alcaraz has cruised into the fourth round after Chinese wildcard Junsheng Shang was forced to retire while trailing 6-1 6-1 1-0.
Alcaraz wasn’t at his best, but he hardly needed to be against the world number 140, with the 18-year-old severely limited by an apparent quad injury.
Shang was competing in just his third Grand Slam, after reaching the second round last year before falling to 2023’s 16th seed Frances Tiafoe.
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The Chinese rising star – known as Jerry due to his childhood fondness of the classic cartoon Tom and Jerry – won the first game before Alcaraz reeled off seven on the trot.
Shang held serve for 1-1 in the second, before Alcaraz raced away to win the second set in equally emphatic fashion.
Alcaraz broke in the first game of the third set before Shang finally retired, having had treatment earlier in the match.
Having dropped just one set in his first three rounds, Alcaraz looks in strong shape ahead of a fourth-round match-up with Miomir Kecmanovic, who saved two match points in a fourth-set tiebreak Tommy Paul before racing away to win the final set 6-0.
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Recently-retired Aussie tennis cult hero John Millman said Alcaraz’s performance was a ‘scary’ statement to his rivals.
“Over the years, from one year to the next, I think he has improved in every area,” John Millman said on Nine’s coverage.
“His weight of shots that little bit bigger, it was already big to start with. He is looking even fitter than he did 12 months ago.
“The scary thing about Alcaraz right now is I think he has a level or two to go up if he needs to.
“He is almost playing within himself at the moment, as scary as is.”
In a classy post-match act, Alcaraz began his on-court interview by wishing his injured opponent a quick return to the court, then doubled down as he wrote on the TV camera afterwards: “We will play again! Stay strong! Wish a speed[y] recovery!”
It was the first time in the 20-year-old’s career he had faced a player younger than him.
SEMI-FINALIST’S UGLY MELTDOWN
American 14th seed Tommy Paul and last year’s semi-finalist has crashed out of the Australian Open after a shocking meltdown.
After losing the first set 4-6 to Serbian Miomir Kecmanovic, Paul claimed the next two sets 6-3 6-2.
A very tight fourth set went all the way to a tiebreak, where Paul had two match points but couldn’t close it out as Kecmanovic fought back to claim the breaker 9-7.
Then Paul utterly fell to pieces, smashing a racquet during a 6-0 final-set capitulation that lasted just 29 minutes.
“A staggering turn of events here,” commentator David Culbert said during the deciding set.
The 26-year-old won just six points in the final set – and three of those came in the final game as he swung for the fences before Kecmanovic sealed it with an ace.
24-year-old Kecmanovic prevailed 6-4 3-6 2-6 7-6(7) 6-0 in three hours and 57 minutes.
Asked on-court how he managed to win, Kecmanovic replied: “Honestly I have no idea, it was supposed to be my day today I guess!”
Kecmanovic also claimed a five-set win over a seed in the second round, beating No.24 Jan-Lennard Struff in a match tie-breaker.
He’ll face world number two Carlos Alcaraz in the next round.
Rublev sets up date with Demon | 01:43
FRENCH WILDCARD’S FAIRYTALE RUN CONTINUES
World no.122 Arthur Cazaux, who only made the Australian Open thanks to the controversial reciprocal wildcard system, is through to the fourth round after stunning No.28 seed Tallon Griekspoor 6-3 6-3 6-1.
Cazaux had never won a grand slam match before this week, but managed to back up his stunning upsets of former world No.27 Laslo Djere (first round) and world No.8 Holger Rune (second round).
As a junior Cazaux reached the No.4 ranking and was a runner-up in the boys’ singles at the 2020 Australian Open.
He was given a wildcard into the tournament because of the oft-criticised swap between the US, French and Australian Opens, where each of the three nations gives a player from the other two a wildcard into the men’s and women’s singles.
Cazaux will face No.9 seed Hubert Hurkacz in the fourth round after the Pole fought past No.21 seed Ugo Humbert in four sets.
Sabalenka doesn’t get a handshake | 00:34
AUSSIE DOUBLES HEARTBREAK AFTER HILARIOUS BALLKID ERROR
It’s been a bad day for Aussies in the men’s doubles competition, with defending champions Rinky Hijikata and Jason Kubler ousted before Max Purcell and Jordan Thompson quickly followed them.
Hijikata and Kubler entered the tournament as the 16th seeds, but were the defending champions after a whirlwind run to the title last year.
The pair dropped the first set against their German opponents Yannick Hanfmann and Dominik Koepfer, but bounded back to claim the second in front of a raucous Court 3 crowd.
In a hilarious moment early in the second set, a ball-kid ran onto the court midplay and interrupted a point – and the Aussies were probably grateful.
At Advantage in their first service game of the set, Hijikata hit a brilliant shot that had Koepfer lunging to hit before it bounced twice. He just managed to reach it in time, but the crowd roared, thinking the Australians had won the point and the game. The ballkid began to race onto the court to fetch the ball – but Koepfer had hit it back in play.
The point was halted and replayed – and this time, Hijikata sealed it with a booming serve.
“The ballkid will feel extremely terrible for that, but we all make mistakes,” Casey Dellacqua said in commentary for Nine.
“Stuff like that happens to the best of us.”
One break of serve was all the Germans needed in the third, successfully serving out the match to win 6-4 4-6 6-3.
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Hijikata and Kubler had earlier predicted fellow Aussies Max Purcell and Jordan Thompson to follow in their footsteps (and those of Kyrgios and Kokkinakis) and make it three Aussie duos to win the title in a row.
“I think they could be the third straight Aussie pair to win the tournament, if I’m being honest,” Hijikata said of the duo.
“I got to play with Max in Tokyo, and I’ve seen Thommo play a ton – they’re both unbelievable doubles players.”
But the pair also fell in three sets, as seventh-seed duo Hugo Nys and Jan Zielinski comfortably won 6-3 6-7(5) 6-1.
STAR DUMPED OUT AMID ODD SUSHI DRAMA
American Sloane Stephens is the latest big name to tumble in what has been a week of upsets in the women’s draw.
Anna Kalinskaya overcame the former US Open champion 6-7(8) 6-1 6-4 in two hours and 45 minutes.
Stephens was unhappy after being told by the umpire to hurry up between points and games on multiple occasions – including when she snacked on a bizarre mid-match meal delivered from her coach’s box: two boxes of sushi and two smoothies.
It helped her forge a brief comeback in the third set, but the 2013 Aus Open semi-finalist looked out of sorts as she was dumped out.
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Rod Laver Arena
Day session – From 12:00pm AEDT
Qinwen Zheng (12) def Yafan Wang 6-4 2-6 7-6(10-8)
Carlos Alcaraz (2) def Juncheng Shang (WC) 6-1 6-1 1-0 ret
Night session – From 7:00pm AEDT
Iga Swiatek (1) vs Linda Noskova
Alexander Zverev (6) vs Alex Michelsen
Margaret Court Arena
Day session – From 12:00pm AEDT
Miomir Kecmanovic def Tommy Paul (14) 6-4 3-6 2-6 7-6(7) 6-0
Jelena Ostapenko (11) vs Victoria Azarenka (18)
Night session – From 7:00pm AEDT
Felix Auger-Aliassime (27) vs Daniil Medvedev (3)
Elina Svitolina (19) vs Viktorija Golubic
John Cain Arena
Day session – From 11:00am AEDT
Dayana Yastremska (Q) def Emma Navarro (27) 6-2 2-6 6-1
Hubert Hurkacz (9) def Ugo Humbert (21) 3-6 6-1 7-6(4) 6-3
Not before 5:00pm AEDT
Cameron Norrie (19) vs Casper Ruud (11)
VETERAN’S WHACKS ‘BULLS**T’ AMID ODD QUIRK
35-year-old Frenchman Adrian Mannarino is ageing like a fine wine – reaching the fourth round of the Australian Open with a near-five-hour win over American 16th seed Ben Shelton that is undoubtedly one of the matches of the tournament.
It was his third consecutive five-setter, and was his 11th straight slam win when a match went the distance.
Next he’ll face Novak Djokovic, where even reaching five sets would be an incredible result for the veteran.
Not that Mannarino wanted to know who he is playing. In a funny quirk, the No.20 prefers to find out who he is playing around an hour before he steps onto court.
It means he doesn’t prepare differently for any opponent – even if they’re left handed.
“No, not at all,” he said in his post-match press conference. “I don’t think I need to prepare special for these kind of match. Many players like to play with lefty before playing a lefty, practising with a righty before playing a righty. I just think that’s bulls**t.
“This is one of the reasons why I’m struggling to find partners because people, they’re really, really intense in their preparation. They want everything to be perfect. For me, doesn’t really matter.
“Yesterday I was just too tired. I’ve been playing like 15 minutes with my coach. I said: ‘No, I don’t want nothing more, I’ve been playing enough tennis the last few days.’”
But he can’t swear everyone to secrecy about his upcoming opponent, and revealed he already knows he’s facing the Serb (likely Sunday night).
“I always try to keep it as long as I can because I just don’t want to think too much. But let’s say in average it’s about an hour before.
“Today I was just at the restaurant checking on which court my friends (Nicolas) Mahut and (Edouard) Roger-Vasselin were playing (doubles). Actually watching the screen, I saw my match. I was like: ‘Wow, now I know!’.”
He added he found out his second-round opponent was Jaume Munar from his driver.
“It’s always different, the different situation. Yesterday my driver who drove me in the morning just wanted to be nice and say good luck against Mr. Munar. I don’t need to know!”
Rublev sets up date with Demon | 01:43
‘A LOT OF ADVERSITY’: DJOKER’S EMOTIONAL ROAD TO 100
Novak Djokovic has won 10 Australian Opens and could well be on the way to his 11th this fortnight.
Last night, the Serbian great played in his 100th match at Melbourne Park, claiming his 92nd win at the tournament as he overcame Tomas Martin Etcheverry in straight sets.
Asked to reflect on his journey to an Australian Open century and his motivation throughout the years, the world no. 1 delivered an emotional tribute to his family.
“I’ll try to keep this answer as short as possible,” he began.
“I have been blessed to go through a very interesting life journey, so to say.
“Coming from Serbia during the 90s wasn’t easy for my family and my parents had to endure a lot of adversity, economically and in every sense, in order for me to live my dream.
“To allow me to play the sport that still is very expensive for our country, but at that time it was super expensive compared to some other team sports.
“I chose to play it and my parents did everything they possibly can to provide the conditions and the possibilities for me to be able to train.
“I wasn’t travelling for a couple of years in the junior days because of obviously (a) lack of resources, war, embargo, lot of different things.
“At the end of the day, when I reflect on all of the journey that I’ve been through and that we have all been through, as a family and people of Serbia, it has been honestly an incredible blessing to be here. I am very grateful for that.”
16-YEAR-OLD’S CHARMING REACTION TO MURRAY PRAISE
16-year-old Mirra Andreeva is taking the Australian Open by storm, the teen widely touted as the ‘next big thing’ in tennis roaring into fourth round on Friday with a remarkable comeback win over Frenchwoman Diane Parry 1-6 6-1 7-6(5).
Andreeva saved match point while down 5-2 in the third before sending it to a tie-break on the back of a bizarre biting act, some elite play, and impressive mental fortitude – especially to recover in the tie-break after failing to serve out the match at 6-5.
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Five-time Australian Open finalist Andy Murray praised the youngster as he took aim at TV commentators during the match.
“Andreeva down 5-1 in third,” he wrote on social media. “Commentator: ‘she really needs to work on mental side of her game. She’s too hard on herself when she’s losing’. 30 minutes later 7-6 Andreeva wins.”
“Maybe the reason she turned the match around is because of her mental strength,” he said.
“Maybe she turned the match around because she is hard on herself and demands more of herself when she’s losing/playing badly? Winner.”
Andreeva’s response to Murray’s praise was perfect.
“Honestly, I didn’t really think that he would watch a match, then after he would tweet, he would comment something,” she said.
“Honestly, I will try to print it out somehow. I don’t know, I will put it in a frame. I will bring it everywhere with me. I will maybe put it on the wall so I can see it every day!”