Australian Open 2026 Men’s Day 6

Carlos Alcaraz marched into the Australian Open fourth round on Friday with a methodical 6-2, 6-4, 6-1 defeat of Corentin Moutet.

The top seed who came to the first major of the season without an official tune-up event, showed no signs of rust as he completed his third win of the week, dispatching the Frenchman in just over two hours.

The Spaniard sent over 30 winners in victory to move to the last 16 where he will play Tommy Paul, who advanced with the loss of one game in each of the first two sets as Alejandro Davidovich Fokina retired.

“It’s obviously unfortunate that he had to pull out,” Paul said. “It’s sometimes difficult when somebody’s struggling to keep focused. 

“I thought I did a pretty good job with that. I’ve been playing pretty good tennis
so far this tournament. Really looking forward to the next match”

Alcaraz called his win over Moutet, the last Frenchman standing, “not an easy match, to be honest.” 

“Someone like him, you never know what you will be next.

“But I had fun on the court, we had some great shots, some great points. There were quite a few highlights. It’s fun to play these kinds of matches.”

The flashy pair traded drop shots back and forth, with Alcaraz admitting  he got caught out more than once.

The world No. 1 was competing in his 100th match at a Grand Slam, standing 87-13.

US young gun Learner Tien schooled Portugal’s Nuno Borges with a 7-6 (9), 6-4, 6-2 win to match his showing here a year ago by reaching the fourth round well after midnight.

Tien, winner in 2025 over three-time finalist Daniil Medvedev in five sets, set up a repeat battle with the former world No. 1 for this weekend.

“I think it’s pretty crazy that we end up playing here again a year later. Yeah, I’m
looking forward to it,” Tien said.

“Everything’s gotten a lot better just in general, I have a year’s worth of experience under my belt now. 

“Just playing more matches at this level has been really big for me, just getting out there and experiencing these different matchups that I haven’t had
before.

“Having to work my way through the ups and downs of the season has been huge for me.”

Medvedev advanced in five sets over Hungarian Fabian Marozsan 6-7 (5), 4-6, 7-5, 6-0, 6-3, another in her series of fightbacks from the depths.

“In a lot of these love-2 sets comebacks, in the fourth set I easy because I feel strong physically. The fifth set, the guy comes back, like, strong.

“That’s what happened last year many, many times. I lost all the matches having a break up coming back from two sets to love down. 

“So I’m happy that I managed to stay strong, not let this get into my head, and finish the match. What happens in the past doesn’t matter – what happens today is the most important.”

Main photo:- Carlos Alcaraz into fourth round – by ISF Ltd