The world No. 1 had to work against the German Hanmann to reach the 3rd round in Melbourne.
Carlos Alcaraz, seeking a first title in Melbourne, qualified for the third round by beating the eye-catching German Yannick Hanfmann (102nd) on Wednesday 7-6 (7/4), 6-3, 6-2.
“I knew he would play very well, I know him from Challenger tournaments. But I didn’t expect it to be so difficult at first.”recognized the Spaniard.
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“His bullets came at me like bombs!”he added, emphasizing with satisfaction that he then knew “raise” their own level of play.
Winner of six Grand Slam titles, Alcaraz has never made it past the quarter-finals in Melbourne. He will face the French Corentin Moutet (34th) or the American Michael Zheng (174th and from qualifying) on Friday to try to advance to the eighth.
Wednesday, after a tight first set during which he lost his faceoff once, Alcaraz then no longer had to defend a break point… until the very last game where he found himself trailing 0/40. But Hanfmann was unable to achieve any of these three consecutive break points, nor a fourth in the process, and lost on the third match point.
