New Delhi: Carlos Alcaraz and Daniil Medvedev stuttered in initial phase of their Australian Open second round matches but eventually advanced in Melbourne
on Wednesday.
World No. 1 Alcaraz defeated Yannick Hanfmann 7-6(4) 6-3 6-2 to remain on track for a career Gland Slam at Melbourne Park while three-time finalist Medvedev dug deep to beat Quentin Halys 6-7(9) 6-3 6-4 6-2.
Spaniard Alcaraz was made to work in the opening set by his German opponent on Rod Laver Arena and would face either Michael Zheng or Corentin Moutet.
The six-time Major winner trailed 1-3 but drew level before edging an exhaustive opening set in 78 minutes after which he didn’t have much trouble as Hanfmann’s resolve wore out.
The 22-year-old is seeking to become the youngest man in history to complete the career Grand Slam in singles, and the youngest in the Open Era to win seven major singles titles.
Medvedev too had initial hiccups as he had to battle for over an hour in the first set that he lost in an intense tiebreak.
The 11th seedthen was broken in the second set by his world number 83 opponent but recovered to level the contest.
In the third set, the Russian gained control of the baseline exchanges and converted an early break point to pull ahead.
His aggressive groundstokes to Halys’s weak ultimately secured the win.
BREAKING: Roger Federer is the 🐐 on the golf course too, as confirmed by our source, Carlos Alcaraz 😜 pic.twitter.com/Ger9UhkZlm
— #AusOpen (@AustralianOpen) January 21, 2026
Gauff ruthless
Third seed Coco Gauff waltzed past Olga Danilovic 6-2 6-2 into the third round.
Serbian Danilovic had beaten Venus Williams in the first round but couldn’t put up a fight against another American Grand Slam champio.
Within the first 22 minutes she was 5-0 down after which she double faulted on set point to put Gauff ahead.
The second set too went on similar lines as Gauff consolidated another early break to pull 3-0 ahead. Gauff’s superior court coverage and accurate groundstrokes were too much for Danilovic.
Gauff then converted a break point to win a date with fellow countrymate Hailey Baptiste.
“In my first match, I won like seven drop shot points, which I don’t think I’ve ever done. And then today, I won, like all of them that I did, so it’s a good shot until I miss it,” Gauff said.
“My coach told me, ‘Don’t go drop shot on pressure points,’ and I think almost every time I did a drop shot today was on a pressure point and it worked.”
