Carlos Alcaraz’s career tennis Grand Slam hopes are alive and well at the 2026 Australian Open, after he booked his spot in the next round with a closely contested victory on Wednesday (21 January).
Taking centre-stage at the Rod Laver Arena, the Spanish superstar fought off competition from Yannick Hanfmann to win in straight sets 7-6(4), 6-3, 6-2.
Both players had their share of the momentum in the first set, as Hanfmann held, then broke serve to establish an early 3-1 lead.
Calmness and composure from first seed Alcaraz saw him come from behind a number of times, forcing their epic opener to a tiebreaker. It was the world No. 1 who eventually clinched it, taking one step towards the next round.
Set two began in a similar fashion, though it was not long until the Spaniard got a foothold on proceedings to take a commanding two-sets-to-love lead in the Melbourne heat.
Alcaraz began to push ahead with a spot in the third round on the line, putting himself on the brink with a 5-2 lead in the third set.
Just as the crowd had grown used to across almost three hours on the court, it was a hard-fought final game that saw Hanfmann rescue numerous break points before his opponent eventually held serve to see out the match.
“I knew he was going to play great, I know his level… to be honest, it was tougher than I thought,” Alcaraz said in his on-court interview.
“I’m really happy that I got through a really difficult first set, then I started to feel a little bit better, tactically I feel I played much better.
“Every match is different; the style of the players is different. Yannick has a style [of play] that I’m not really comfortable with on the court, so it wasn’t easy today.”
Alcaraz will face one of Michael Zheng or Corentin Moutet in the third round.