Australian Open 2026 Men’s Day 4

Carlos Alcaraz had to adjust to conditions on a windy day as he handled uncomfortable opponent Yannik Hanfmann 7-6 (4), 6-3, 6-2 on Wednesday to reach the Australian Open third round.

The Spanish top seed said that the matchup against the No. 102 German was not as easy as it might have looked on paper.

 “Every match is different, player styles are different,” the world No. 1 said. “You can feel uncomfortable on court.

“Yannik can make me feel uncomfortable. I had to get used to the opponent and the conditions.”

Alcaraz managed his straight-sets win in two and three-quarter hours, finishing on a third match point.

After playing Hanfmann only once before on the Tour, the seed knew his work would not be easy.

“I knew he would play great. I know his level. The match was tougher than thought. At the start I was not feeling the ball that well

“His returns were coming at me like a bomb.. forehand, backhad, serve. I had to be ready for that.”

“I’m happy I got through this difficult match. I got better tactically and was playing a good level at the end.”

Daniel Medvedev needed to mount a fightback to get past  Quentin Halys of France 6-7 (9), 6-3, 6-4, 6-2 in just over three hours.

The three-time Melbourne runner-up is into the third round here for the seventh time in 10 appearances as he plays a 35th Grand Slam.

“The performance could be better I think, but a win is a win. At the Slams, if people played good against me, I struggle.

I lost some matches so I’m happy that I managed to win it, turning it around and
playing better and better throughout the whole match.”

There were wins into the third round for American Tommy Paul, Andrey Rublev and Learner Tien, who defeated Alexander Shevchenko in four sets.