Just saw an entertaining four-hour showdown at Rod Laver Arena where Matteo Berrettini took the first two sets before Carlos Alcaraz came out of nowhere and tied a 2-2 lead that went to a 5th set decider, but it’s Berrettini, who rejuvenated himself, during the best of ten tiebreaks & came out on top with three sets pocketed out of the best of five.
Final Score: 2-6, 6-7 via 3-7 tiebreaker, 6-4, 6-2, 6-7 via 5-10 tiebreaker
Well done to Berrettini with the hard-fought win as he will face Pablo Carreno Busta from Spain for Round 4, it wasn’t hard for the Italian to get the ground running when he was close to wrap up the game at the first attempt in straight sets. Although he had some tough moments where he lost the next two sets that included a fall along the way, but he later backed up his early lead advantage that gave him enough time to escape & prevented Alcaraz from plotting an upset.
And unlucky with the 3rd Round elimination from Alcaraz, who has plenty of potential of becoming the next Grand Slam superstar, at just 18 years old, having made it to the US Open Quarter-Final last year & sure this close loss will help him bounce back next time. Like the way how he stopped Berrettini from an early finish in the 3rd set & began to catch up with a 2-2 lead, he almost pulled off an upset, unfortunately, Alcarez just ran out of fire via the deciding tiebreak that saw Berrettini as the winner instead.