MELBOURNE, Australia — Carlos Alcaraz had to acknowledge that while he won the third-round match, he lost the battle of the drop shots against Corentin Moutet.
That could be a first for the 22-year-old Spaniard, who grew up relentlessly practicing his drop shots and is chasing a career Grand Slam as one of the final 16 players in men’s singles at the Australian Open.
Moutet, a 26-year-old left-hander from France, mixed things up for Alcaraz in an almost festival Friday vibe at Rod Laver Arena, his blend of drop shots, slice, lobs, tweeners, volleys and even an underarm serve keeping the ATP Tour’s top-ranked player on his toes.
“When you play someone like Corentin, you don’t know what’s going to be next,” Alcaraz said after his 6-2, 6-4, 6-1 win over the No. 32 seed. “I had so much fun on the court. As you could see, we both pulled off great shots. Great points.”
Alcaraz said that late in the first set, he was already fed up with tracking down his opponent’s drop shots and told his support team “I’m not going to run to get those.”