Alcaraz staves off Sonego threat to reach Australian Open third round

After fellow seeds Casper Ruud, Alexander Zverev and Cameron Norrie all managed five-set wins over lower-ranked opponents, the 20-year-old Spaniard was tested by the wind against the unseeded Sonego.

Carlos Alcaraz of Spain in their round two singles match against Lorenzo Sonego of Italy during the 2024 Australian Open at Melbourne Park on January 18, 2024 in Melbourne, Australia. | Photo Credit: Getty Images

Second seed Carlos Alcaraz endured a tricky test before finding his groove to overcome Italian Lorenzo Sonego 6-4 6-7(3) 6-3 7-6(3) at the Australian Open on Thursday and make the third round on a day of epic battles.

After fellow seeds Casper Ruud, Alexander Zverev and Cameron Norrie all huffed and puffed to five-set wins over lower-ranked opponents, the 20-year-old Spaniard was tested by the wind against the unseeded Sonego.

“I’m really happy with my performance today,” Alcaraz said. “I think both of us played a really high level, high intensity, the match was a little bit tricky with the wind and the sun.”

The double Grand Slam champion, who missed last year’s tournament due to injury, took the opening set with a single break, then in the next set let Sonego off the hook in the ninth game, and was unable to recover from 5-1 down in the tie-break.

The Italian, ranked 46 in the world, won the pair’s only previous clash in 2021, when Alcaraz was outside the top 50. But the 28-year-old was put through the wringer by his vastly-improved opponent’s heavy forehands to lose the third set.

In a fourth set where both players were at their entertaining best, Sonego surrendered serve early on, but Alcaraz raised his game to reel off the points in the tie-break and go through in style.

“It was tough to play your best but we tried to stay there all the time, even if I lost the second set,” said Alcaraz, who will face Chinese wild card Shang Juncheng next.

Casper Ruud, the men’s 11th seed, was also forced to battle hard for his place in the third round as he was taken to a fifth set tiebreak by local Max Purcell before winning 6-3 6-7(5) 6-3 3-6 7-6(7).

Ruud thought his match against the unorthodox Purcell was one he might have lost before the boost of confidence he got from a fine showing at the year-opening United Cup.

“That’s a typical match you could end up losing,” he told reporters.

“Today I didn’t have to save match point, but he was basically only three points away from winning. It might be the good start I had in United Cup that gave me some confidence to stay in the rally and play well when I had to.”

The Dane will next face British 19th seed Cameron Norrie, who also needed the full five sets to beat Italian qualifier Giulio Zeppieri 3-6 6-7(4) 6-2 6-4 6-4.