Top-ranked Carlos Alcaraz and Aryna Sabalenka win in straight sets in third round action at Melbourne Park.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n Top-ranked Carlos Alcaraz and Aryna Sabalenka have powered into the third round at the Australian Open.<\/p>\n World number one Carlos Alcaraz fended off a series of \u201cbombs\u201d before surging into the Australian Open third round on Wednesday, where he was joined by Aryna Sabalenka and a near-flawless Coco Gauff.<\/p>\n list of 4 items<\/span>end of list<\/span><\/section>\n Three-time finalist Daniil Medvedev also stayed alive, but he needed four sets to keep his Grand Slam dream on track at a cooler and overcast Melbourne Park after days of hot weather.<\/p>\n Spanish superstar Alcaraz came through a tough arm-wrestle 7-6 (7\/4), 6-3, 6-2 on Rod Laver Arena against hard-hitting Yannick Hanfmann of Germany to take another step towards a career Grand Slam.<\/p>\n But he was put through his paces by a player 12 years older before setting up a showdown with either France\u2019s Corentin Moutet or American Michael Zheng.<\/p>\n \u201cTo be honest, it was tougher than I thought at the beginning,\u201d said Alcaraz, who already has six major titles but has never gone past the last eight in Melbourne.<\/p>\n \u201cI didn\u2019t feel the ball that good. You know, the ball was coming as a bomb, forehand and backhand.\u201d<\/p>\n If the 22-year-old does win the Australian Open to complete the career Grand Slam of all four majors, he will be the youngest man to do so, surpassing compatriot Rafael Nadal.<\/p>\n The unpredictable Medvedev, runner-up in 2021, 2022 and 2024, is trying to keep his emotions in check this year and was on his best behaviour against Frenchman Quentin Halys.<\/p>\n He lost a tight first set but the result was never in doubt as he surged to the finish line 6-7 (9\/11), 6-3, 6-4, 6-2.<\/p>\n \u201cIt was a very tough match, happy I managed to fight,\u201d said the Russian, who faces Fabian Marozsan of Hungary next.<\/p>\n American Tommy Paul, Argentina\u2019s Francisco Cerundolo and Tomas Etcheverry, Spaniard Alejandro Davidovich Fokina and Russian Andrey Rublev also safely negotiated the second round.<\/p>\n Four-time major winner Sabalenka raced 5-0 clear of qualifier Bai Zhuoxuan, ranked a lowly 702, on centre court before wobbling to give the Chinese player a glimmer of hope.<\/p>\n But the top seed quickly snuffed it out to race home 6-3, 6-1 and set up a clash next with Russian-born Anastasia Potapova, now representing Austria, who dispatched 2021 US Open champion Emma Raducanu.<\/p>\n \u201cSuper happy to close the (first) set, it gives me confidence that my game is there, my focus is there,\u201d said Sabalenka, who is bidding for a third Australian Open title in four years.<\/p>\n \u201cStep by step. Super happy with my win. There is always a little gap to improve.\u201d<\/p>\n Sabalenka has dropped just nine games so far as she looks to make amends for her upset in last year\u2019s final to Madison Keys.<\/p>\n Third seed Gauff was clinical against Serbia\u2019s Olga Danilovic, who ended Venus Williams\u2019s tournament in round one.<\/p>\n The two-time major winner took just 78 minutes to race home 6-2, 6-2 on Margaret Court Arena.<\/p>\n It set up a showdown next against fellow American Hailey Baptiste, ranked 70, who downed home hope Storm Hunter in straight sets.<\/p>\n \u201cNear perfect,\u201d said Gauff, whose best performance in Melbourne was a semifinal in 2024.<\/p>\n Top-ranked Carlos Alcaraz and Aryna Sabalenka win in straight sets in third round action at Melbourne Park. Top-ranked Carlos Alcaraz and Aryna Sabalenka have powered into the third round at the Australian Open. World number one Carlos Alcaraz fended off a series of \u201cbombs\u201d before surging into the Australian Open third round on Wednesday, where […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":9380,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-9379","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-asia-pacific"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9379","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=9379"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9379\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/9380"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=9379"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=9379"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=9379"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Recommended Stories <\/h2>\n
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Sabalenka, Gauff on form<\/h2>\n
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