Aus Open PIX: Alcaraz battles into round 3; Pegula out

Images from Day 5 of the 2024 Australian Open in Melbourne on Thursday.

Alcaraz advances to third round

Carlos Alcaraz was certainly tested as he matched his best previous performance at the Australian Open by getting past the second round on Thursday.

Rain showers disrupted play on the outer courts for the second successive day but it was the wind and sunshine that Alcaraz felt had threatened the quality of his contest against Italian Lorenzo Sonego.

The Spanish second seed felt both players managed to conquer the challenge as he gave up the second set but ran out a 6-4, 6-7(3), 6-3, 7-6(3) winner on Rod Laver Arena.

"It was tough to play your best but we tried to stay there all the time," he said.

Swiatek rallies to beat Collins

World number one Iga Swiatek battled back from two breaks down in the final set to beat Danielle Collins 6-4 3-6 6-4 on Thursday and reach the third round of the Australian Open for the fifth successive year.

Collins might be ranked 62nd in the world but has a good record at Melbourne Park and beat Swiatek in the semi-finals two years ago before going on to lose to Ash Barty in the title-decider.

Four-times Grand Slam champion Swiatek has an excellent record against lower-ranked players but really had to dig deep into her reserves to overcome Collins in a dramatic but scrappy three-hour contest on Rod Laver Arena.

The 30-year-old Collins faltered in her serve at key moments in the match and Swiatek found her best tennis late in the decisive set to move onto a third-round clash with Czech Linda Noskova.

"Oh my god, honestly, I was already at the airport," said Swiatek, whose run to the 2022 semis was her best showing at Melbourne Park.

"I wanted to fight until the end, she played perfectly but it would be hard for anybody to keep that level so I wanted to be ready when mistakes were going to come from the other side.

"I wanted to push then and I did that at the end and I'm really proud of myself because it wasn't easy."

Collins drew first blood with a break for 3-1 in the opening set but Swiatek broke straight back to love and the match was locked up at 3-3 when a shower interrupted play for half an hour as the roof was closed.

Swiatek came out firing on the resumption, racing around the court to win four straight games to lock up the first set and go a break up in the second.

That seemed to galvanise Collins and the 30-year-old American ramped up the speed of her groundstrokes to rattle off the next five games and serve for the second set.

"I felt I had the momentum going and she suddenly started playing two times faster," Swiatek recalled.

"I had no idea how to react to that for a couple of games but I just came back and thought the only thing I can focus on is myself."

Five double faults helped Swiatek save four set-points and the Pole fought off another on her own serve before Collins finally got over the line at the sixth attempt to level up the contest after more than two hours on court.

Collins was by no means done yet and two breaks gave her a 4-1 lead in the decider but that was as good as it got for the American, who raced straight off court at the end knowing she had blown a big chance of an upset.

Swiatek saw two match points saved in the final game but finally sealed the deal when she seized on a Collins dropshot and sent a sizzling backhand down the line.

Burel knocks out Pegula

Unseeded Frenchwoman Clara Burel beat American fifth seed Jessica Pegula 6-4, 6-2 in an hour and 10 minutes to advance to the third round.

Britain's Jack Draper was unable to replicate his win over Tommy Paul in Adelaide last week and the American 14th seed progressed 6-2, 3-6, 6-3, 7-5.

Ruud battles into third round

Casper Ruud, the men's 11th seed, was also forced to battle hard for his place in the third round as he was taken to a fifth set tiebreak by local Max Purcell before winning 6-3, 6-7(5), 6-3, 3-6, 7-6(7).

Ruud thought his match against the unorthodox Purcell was one he might have lost before the boost of confidence he got from a fine showing at the year-opening United Cup.

"That's a typical match you could end up losing," he told reporters.

"Today I didn't have to save match point, but he was basically only three points away from winning. It might be the good start I had in United Cup that gave me some confidence to stay in the rally and play well when I had to."

The Dane will next face British 19th seed Cameron Norrie, who also needed the full five sets to beat Italian qualifier Giulio Zeppieri 3-6 6-7(4) 6-2 6-4 6-4.

Zverev battles past qualifier Klein

Sixth seed Alexander Zverev survived an almighty scare at the Australian Open on Thursday as the former semi-finalist dug deep to beat Slovakian qualifier Lukas Klein 7-5, 3-6, 4-6, 7-6(5), 7-6(7) and move into the third round.

Rain forced the contest to be completed under the roof on John Cain Arena and Zverev found himself in big trouble as world number 163 Klein turned up the pressure after losing the opening set to take the next two.

The 25-year-old Slovak, whose only previous Grand Slam main draw appearance was at Wimbledon in 2022, inched towards his first career top-10 win but squandered the chance to break at 4-4 in the fourth set.

Zverev levelled the contest as Klein frittered away a 3-1 lead in the tie-break and the 26-year-old German swapped breaks with his opponent early in the decider before holding his nerve in a tie-break to prevail.

Rune bounced out of Australian Open by wildcard Cazaux

Holger Rune's hopes of bettering last year's run to the fourth round of the Australian Open were shattered by Arthur Cazaux as the French wildcard ran out a worthy 7-6 (4), 6-4, 4-6, 6-3 winner in their second-round clash on Thursday.

Cazaux was not ranked high enough to even get into qualifying at Melbourne Park last year but outplayed the Danish eighth seed to record his second win on his Australian Open debut and set up a clash with Dutchman Tallon Griekspoor.

"It was a crazy match," said the 21-year-old. "Holger is a wonderful player, I knew it would be a big fight and I was ready. I'm so happy.

"Tennis is a show and I gave all I had in me."

Rune, 20, is regarded as one of the most promising talents in the men's game but for the first two sets at least it was Cazaux who looked the pick of the two youngsters wearing matching backwards white baseball caps.

The world number 122, riding a big serve that earned him 18 aces, clinched the first set on a tiebreak before a single break put him two sets up to the delight of a noisy band of his compatriots on Margaret Court Arena.

Rune, who took a medical timeout and received regular attention to his left thigh during changeovers, finally got a look at Cazaux's serve in the 10th game of the third set and broke to cut the deficit.

The aggressive Frenchman, who beat Laslo Djere over five sets for his first Grand Slam win in the first round, came straight back at the Dane with a break to open the fourth and Rune needed to fight hard to prevent Cazaux going 3-0 up.

Facing defeat, Rune threw everything he had at his opponent but Cazaux stood firm in the face of some ferocious shots and summoned up a brilliant backhand cross-court winner to break the Dane one more time and secure a famous victory.

Raducanu's return ended by Wang

Emma Raducanu lost 6-4, 4-6, 6-4 to China's Yafan Wang, who will face 12th seed Zheng Qinwen in the third round.

Britain's Raducanu was returning to Grand Slam action in Australia after injury kept her out for almost eight months.