Australian Open: Carlos Alcaraz went through 4 sets, including 2 tie-breaks, to reach round 3
Báo Sài Gòn Giải phóng•18/01/2024
Carlos Alcaraz also had the same difficulty as Novak Djokovic, even more, when he lost a set before winning the final match with a score of 3-1 and entering the third round. He just defeated Lorenzo Sonego (Italy, ATP rank 46) with a score of 6-4, 6-7 (3-7), 6-3, 7-6 (7-3). This is Alcaraz's 200th match in his ATP Tour career. Of those, he has 157 wins - 43 losses, a very good record for a young player in both age and career (he is only 20 years old, only joining the ATP Tour since 2020). Alcaraz excitedly shared: "I'm really happy with my performance today. I think both of us played at a great level, with a very high intensity". "Even if I lost the second set, I think I still played very well. We both put on a great show, scored beautiful points and launched extremely hot attacking shots. It was a great match". A superb performance at Rod Laver Arena (Melbourne Park) on Thursday afternoon, January 18, 2024, brought Alcaraz into the third round of the men's singles tournament of the 2024 Australian Open. This is an achievement equal to his best result at the tournament last year.
Alcaraz has 200 matches on the ATP Tour
But surely, in this year's tournament, Alcaraz will go further, even: As far as possible - reaching the final of the "new dream classic", to face Novak Djokovic. If not, the fans will be very disappointed. His opponent in the third round is "an unfamiliar factor" from China - the wild-card player Shang Jungcheng (ranked 140 ATP). Shang is the one who just stopped the dream period of Sumit Nagal (ranked 137 ATP) when he defeated the Indian player 2-6, 6-3, 7-5, 6-4. Shang was born in 2005, 2 years younger than Alcaraz. Therefore, the upcoming match in the third round will be the first time Alcaraz faces a younger opponent, since he entered the professional tennis village for adult players.
Shang just made history for Chinese men's tennis
With this achievement, Shang Juncheng also became the first Chinese male tennis player to enter the third round at the Australian Open, even though his "senior colleagues" have been doing this for a very, very long time!
In another development, Grigor Dimitrov (Bulgaria) is playing very enthusiastically after being "reborn" for the next time. The tennis player ranked 13th in the ATP, once considered the "new Roger Federer" defeated Thanasi Kokkinakis (Australia, ranked 80th in the ATP) 6-3, 6-2, 4-6, 6-4. This is Dimitrov's 8th consecutive win (including the win in the friendly tournament - and exhibition World Tennis League held at the end of last year). In the first week of this year, he won the Brisbane International, the championship after more than 6 years of waiting...
Dimitrov is playing very well.
The results of the women's singles matches also showed favorable situations for the delegates from China. Zheng Qinwen (who just won the gold medal at the Asian Games in Hangzhou) defeated Katie Boutler (Great Britain, ranked 54th WTA) with a score of 6-3 in both matches. Wang Yafang (ranked 94th WTA) also had an extremely valuable victory over "Miss England" Emma Raducanu (ranked 296th WTA) with a score of 6-4, 4-6 and 6-4). With this result, Zheng and Wang entered the third round and will directly decide the winner against each other...
This is Alcaraz's 200th match in his ATP Tour career. Of those, he has 157 wins - 43 losses, a very good record for a young player in both age and career (he is only 20 years old, only joining the ATP Tour since 2020). Alcaraz excitedly shared: "I'm really happy with my performance today. I think both of us played at a great level, with a very high intensity". "Even if I lost the second set, I think I still played very well. We both put on a great show, scored beautiful points and launched extremely hot attacking shots. It was a great match". A superb performance at Rod Laver Arena (Melbourne Park) on Thursday afternoon, January 18, 2024, brought Alcaraz into the third round of the men's singles tournament of the 2024 Australian Open. This is an achievement equal to his best result at the tournament last year. 
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