MELBOURNE: Carlos Alcaraz and Aryna Sabalenka return to the Australian Open battlefield on Friday with fourth round berths at stake, joined in the fight by third seeds Coco Gauff and Alexander Zverev.
Spanish world number one Alcaraz came through a tough three-set arm-wrestle in round two and faces another tricky encounter against French 32nd seed Corentin Moutet.
The 22-year-old has again been handed an afternoon match on Rod Laver Arena, once more following Sabalenka on to Melbourne Park’s center court.
The Belarusian top seed Sabalenka, a two-time Australian Open champion, faces Russia-born Austrian Anastasia Potapova to kick-off day six where temperatures are forecast to soar.
Alcaraz, who is bidding for a career Grand Slam of all four majors, said his testing 7-6 (7/4), 6-3, 6-2 victory over Yannick Hanfmann in round two served him well.
“I’m still getting used to the conditions, getting used to playing better,” said the six-time Grand Slam winner.
“Just happy that I’m just improving every day after every match. So hopefully being better in the next round.”
Alcaraz has never gone past the quarter-finals in his four trips to Australia.
Should he beat Moutet, he will meet either American 19th seed Tommy Paul or Spanish 14th seed Alejandro Davidovich Fokina to make the last eight once again.
Sabalenka, as the overwhelming favorite, was upset by Madison Keys in last year’s final but insists revenge is not her motivation.
“I look at each match as a new match, new opportunity. I have also been working really hard,” she said.
“For me, it doesn’t matter what was in the past. For me, it’s the new match.”
Like Sabalenka, Gauff has been impressive so far, saying she was “near perfect” in making the third round.
She faces fellow American Hailey Baptiste, ranked 70, on Margaret Court Arena.
World number three Gauff takes to the court after Russia’s three-time runner-up Daniil Medvedev, who lines up against Hungary’s Fabian Marozan.
Last year’s beaten finalist Zverev has dropped a set in both his opening two matches and will have a tough encounter in an evening clash on John Cain Arena against British 26th seed Cameron Norrie.
Women’s seventh seed Jasmine Paolini and men’s 10th seed Alexander Bublik are also in action.
Home hope and sixth seed Alex De Minaur has again been awarded the night match on center court, this time against dangerous American Frances Tiafoe.
Eighth seed Mirra Andreeva rounds out the day’s action on Rod Laver Arena in a clash with Romania’s Elena-Gabriela Ruse.
Alcaraz and Sabalenka set sights on Australian Open fourth round
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Alcaraz and Sabalenka set sights on Australian Open fourth round
- Spanish world number one Alcaraz came through a tough three-set arm-wrestle in round two
- Top seed Sabalenka, a two-time Australian Open champion, faces Russia-born Austrian Anastasia Potapova
‘He earned it’ – Monica Puig lends support to fellow Puerto Rican Bad Bunny ahead of Super Bowl halftime show
- Retired tennis star speaks to Arab News in Abu Dhabi about the backlash surrounding Bad Bunny’s performance, the fandom around Alex Eala, and the 10-year anniversary of her Olympic triumph
Retired tennis player Monica Puig has voiced her support for fellow Puerto Rican Bad Bunny ahead of his upcoming Super Bowl halftime show, and admits it’s been difficult to witness the backlash against the NFL’s decision to select him to perform in Sunday’s showpiece.
Puig, who made history in Rio 2016 by becoming Puerto Rico’s first-ever Olympic gold medalist, had been working as the stadium presenter and MC at the Mubadala Abu Dhabi Open tennis tournament in the UAE capital this past week.
The 32-year-old cannot wait to watch her compatriot light up the Super Bowl 60 stage and is disheartened by the controversy that has been created around his upcoming performance.
“I'm getting off of a 15-hour flight tomorrow and I will be turning on the TV to watch Bad Bunny, Benito, or as they call it the ‘Benito Bowl’,” Puig told Arab News in Abu Dhabi on Saturday.
“It's been a really controversial moment, which has been hard to see because being from Puerto Rico, it is an American territory; it is part of the United States. And people have really said they wanted an American artist [to perform at the Super Bowl] when we are an American territory.
“We have a U.S. passport, U.S. currency, everything. We are part of the United States. The only thing that we cannot do is vote for the president. But we are essentially part of the U.S.”
Bad Bunny, Benito Antonio Martínez Ocasio, has been the most streamed artist on the planet in four of the past five years and the NFL is looking to bank on his mega popularity to expand their global reach.
But some in the United States aren’t happy that the Super Bowl halftime show will be performed in Spanish and others have criticized Bad Bunny’s public stance against the actions of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), which prompted him to skip the U.S on his latest tour in order to protect his audience.
Last week, Bad Bunny became the first artist in Grammy Awards history to win Album of the Year with a Spanish-language album, receiving the honor for Debi Tirar Mas Fotos.
He won three awards that night, taking his total Grammy tally to six, and when accepting one of them, he said, uncharacteristically in English: “ICE out! We’re not savage, we’re not animals, we’re not aliens. We are humans and we are Americans.”
Puig has personally met Bad Bunny before and is certain his performance is going to be “a treat”.
“He's earned it. Album of the Year; his album has resonated with all of Puerto Rico. It has even made a big international impact,” added Puig, whose first dance at her wedding was to the Bad Bunny song ‘Ojitos Lindos’.
“People who don't know Spanish love his album. And like he says, it doesn't matter if you don't even know Spanish, just learn to dance and you will enjoy. He is a great showman.
“He loves Puerto Rico with all of his heart and it's really great to see that the things that I feel for Puerto Rico and the things that I feel for my country, he feels as well. And I think we all do.
“All Puerto Ricans can pretty much resonate with that. So I'm going to be watching. I already told my husband we are going to order pizza. We are going to sit down. We are going to watch this performance because it's going to be just... I wasn't able to go to his concert because I was pregnant. I wanted to go back to Puerto Rico to watch. So for me, this is going to be a treat.”
Puig, who lives in Atlanta with her husband Nathan Rakitt and their six-month-old daughter Mila, understands everyone is entitled to their own opinion but wishes people can see the commonalities between us all as humans, rather than the things that divide us.
“It's been quite tough to see the divide because I don't think I've really seen so much pushback on many things. I mean, we have seen Latinos perform at the Super Bowl. We've seen Shakira. We've seen so many different faces and voices take the stage that are not American,” she said.
“To be able to see that kind of pushback, it's been a little puzzling. And for me, it is what it is. We're not going to change what's going on. We're not going to have any impact on what people say.
“And that's their own opinion. Everybody's entitled to their opinion. But I know that I am a 100 percent fan.
“We all have to love and embrace one another. Just because we are from somewhere else, just because we speak a different language doesn't make us any different. We are human. We put our shoes on one foot at a time and we all have dreams, ambitions, goals. And that's the most important thing.”
A ‘wild’ week in Abu Dhabi
Dreams, ambitions and goals were on full display in Abu Dhabi this week, where Puig had a front-row seat to the phenomenon that is Alex Eala.
The young Filipina has risen to rockstar status back home as she’s made her way into the top 50 in the world rankings and she drew capacity crowds in the UAE capital for every match she played across singles and doubles.
In doubles, she partnered another groundbreaking southeast Asian in the form of Indonesia’s Janice Tjen.
Both players are making history for their countries every time they step on a tennis court.
Puig knows a thing or two about making history and has some advice for the likes of Eala and Tjen.
“I think to enjoy it, embrace it,” she said.
“It also is a big responsibility because you are pretty much the face for your country. And I know the Philippines has had success in other sports, but Eala now being the face of tennis, Filipino tennis, and Janice Tjen for Indonesia.
“It's really great to see these players coming from their countries and making a big boom. And to see their fan base also follow them is something really cool because it doesn't matter if they know tennis, they don't know tennis, they show up for their countrywomen. And it's really been super exciting to see, especially here in Abu Dhabi, a lot of Filipinos here, a lot of Indonesian fans in here. So it's been a pretty remarkable week.”
Puig described the atmosphere during Eala’s matches as “absolutely wild” and said it reminded her of her own experience competing at the Rio Olympics en route to the top of the podium.
“They were just loud. They were so passionate and they were really trying to encourage Eala to win. And you saw that they were just suffering along with her,” she added.
This year marks the 10-year anniversary of Puig’s Olympic triumph.
Asked to reflect on the standout moment from her run in Rio, she said: “I think the biggest moment for me was seeing back home the reactions of everybody afterward, after the fact.
“Because I didn't really know or understand the impact that it had in Puerto Rico. And then my agent at the end of the match, he's like, ‘You have to see what's going on’. And I was just flabbergasted. I was stunned. And it was the biggest of the biggest celebrations.
“And just to see what it meant and knowing that sports in Puerto Rico really have the power to unite the island and really have the power to kind of dim all of the negativity that's going on and just kind of bring happiness in that moment. It was just wild.”
