Australian Open: Alcaraz battles past spirited Sonego to reach third round

Spaniard Carlos Alcaraz, the second seed, reached the third round of the Australian Open by edging out Italian Lorenzo Sonego 6-4, 6-7 (3), 6-3, 7-6 (3) at Melbourne Park.

The world No 2 was made to work hard on Rod Laver Arena as Sonego showcased his own credentials as a bright young talent of the sport.

The Italian levelled the match up by winning the second set tiebreak after tireless work to chase down Alcaraz’s blistering groundstrokes.

Alcaraz regained control in the third but was again made to work hard in the fourth, finally taking the win on a tiebreak to reach the third round of the Australian Open for just the second time in his young but already glittering career.

He will play the winner of the match between Indian qualifier Sumit Nagal and Chinese wildcard Juncheng Shang next.

In the previous round, the 20-year-old Spaniard won against Frenchman Richard Gasquet (7-6 (5), 6-1, 6-2).

Sonego, ranked No 46, edged out Daniel Evans (4-6, 7-6 (8), 6-2, 7-6 (4)) in the first round.

Melbourne (Grand Slam), other second-round results (Melbourne Park, hard, USD 58.910.000, most recent results first):

• Emil Ruusuvuori vs. Daniil Medvedev
• Felix Auger-Aliassime vs. Hugo Grenier
• Jakub Mensik vs. Hubert Hurkacz
• Holger Rune vs. Arthur Cazaux: thursday
• Grigor Dimitrov vs. Thanasi Kokkinakis: thursday
• Ugo Humbert vs. Zhizhen Zhang: thursday
• Arthur Fils vs. Tallon Griekspoor: thursday
• Sumit Nagal vs. Juncheng Shang: thursday
• Nuno Borges beat Alejandro Davidovich Fokina (23): 7-6 (7), 6-3, 6-3
• Miomir Kecmanovic beat Jan-Lennard Struff (24): 6-4, 1-6, 7-6 (5), 1-6, 7-6 (9)
• Tommy Paul (14) beat Jack Draper: 6-2, 3-6, 6-3, 7-5
• Casper Ruud (11) beat Max Purcell: 6-3, 6-7 (5), 6-3, 3-6, 7-6 (7)
• Cameron Norrie (19) beat Giulio Zeppieri (Q): 3-6, 6-7 (4), 6-2, 6-4, 6-4
• Alex Michelsen beat Jiri Lehecka (32): 4-6, 6-3, 6-4, 6-4
• Alexander Zverev (6) beat Lukas Klein (Q): 7-5, 3-6, 4-6, 7-6 (5), 7-6 (7)
• Novak Djokovic (1) beat Alexei Popyrin: 6-3, 4-6, 7-6 (4), 6-3
• Andrey Rublev (5) beat Christopher Eubanks: 6-4, 6-4, 6-4
• Sebastian Korda (29) beat Quentin Halys: 6-4, 6-4, 6-4
• Stefanos Tsitsipas (7) beat Jordan Thompson: 4-6, 7-6 (6), 6-2, 7-6 (4)
• Tomas Martin Etcheverry (30) beat Gael Monfils: 6-4, 6-4, 6-4
• Tomas Machac beat Frances Tiafoe (17): 6-4, 6-4, 7-6 (5)
• Adrian Mannarino (20) beat Jaume Munar: 6-3, 6-3, 1-6, 2-6, 6-3
• Ben Shelton (16) beat Christopher O’Connell: 6-4, 6-1, 3-6, 7-6 (5)
• Fabian Marozsan beat Francisco Cerundolo (22): 7-6 (5), 6-4, 6-2
• Taylor Fritz (12) beat Hugo Gaston (LL): 6-0, 6-3, 6-1
• Karen Khachanov (15) beat Aleksandar Kovacevic (Q): 6-4, 6-3, 4-6, 6-3
• Luca Van Assche beat Lorenzo Musetti (25): 6-3, 3-6, 6-7 (5), 6-3, 6-0
• Flavio Cobolli (Q) beat Pavel Kotov: 7-5, 6-3, 5-7, 6-2
• Sebastian Baez (26) beat Daniel Elahi Galan: 7-5, 2-6, 6-2, 6-4
• Alex De Minaur (10) beat Matteo Arnaldi: 6-3, 6-0, 6-3
• Jannik Sinner (4) beat Jesper De Jong (Q): 6-2, 6-2, 6-2