NEW DELHI: Carlos Alcaraz admitted that while he won his third-round match, he lost the battle of the drop shots against Corentin Moutet.

That might be a first for the 22-year-old Spaniard who grew up practicing drop shots relentlessly and is now chasing a career Grand Slam at the Australian Open.

Left-hander Moutet kept Alcaraz on his toes with a mix of drop shots, slice, tweeners, half-volleys, angled volleys and even an underarm serve on a lively Friday at Rod Laver Arena.

The 6-2, 6-4, 6-1 win over the world No. 32 seed looked comfortable but the match was far from routine.

“When you play someone like Corentin you don't know what's going to be next,” Alcaraz said in his on-court interview. “I had so much fun on the court. As you could see, we both pulled off great shots. Great points.”

Alcaraz laughed when recalling a moment near the end of the first set when he was tired of chasing drop shots. He told his team, “I'm not going to run to get those.”

“I was tired to go forward to the net,” he added. He even checked the stats and, with a mild exaggeration, thought “I've been to the net 55 times?”

“I thought we were in a drop-shot competition, but he won!”

There were tense moments like in the second set when Alcaraz gave up a 3-0 lead and Moutet won four games in a row.

Alcaraz added some of his own tricks and tweeners to stay composed.

In the first round, Moutet was booed for an underarm serve but this time the crowd cheered him.

After winning a point near the end with a perfect lob, he celebrated with a fist pump. When he held his game with a winning volley, he doffed his cap.

Alcaraz will next play No. 19 Tommy Paul on Sunday who advanced after Alejandro Davidovich Fokina retired due to injury after dropping the first two sets 6-1, 6-1.

“We have great battles against each other," Alcaraz said. "The matches against each other are always a great level.”

Sabalenka survives tough test

Aryna Sabalenka said at times she felt her head, hands and racket were not connected but she managed to squeeze past Anastasia Potapova 7-6 (4), 7-6 (7).

The top-ranked Sabalenka is chasing her third Australian Open title in four years. She led 6-5 and 40-0 in the first set but Potapova saved three set points to send it to a tiebreak. Sabalenka went 3-0 up but Potapova leveled it at 3-3.

She held two more set points and won the set with a backhand down the line.

In the second set Potapova came back from 4-0 down to 4-4 and forced another tiebreak. She had three set points but Sabalenka held on.

“She played incredible tennis,” Sabalenka said. “I was always on the back foot. There are days where you just have to fight — it was such a fight.”

Sabalenka, who won the Australian Open in 2023 and 2024 and was runner-up a year ago, will face rising star Victoria Mboko who beat 14th-seeded Clara Tauson 7-6 (5), 5-7, 6-3.

“I never actually talked to her, never had a chance to hit or practice with her. I only saw her outside. I was watching some matches," Sabalenka said. “She's a great player. She's a fighter. She's playing really good, aggressive tennis.”

Tien and Medvedev set for rematch

Daniil Medvedev came from two sets down to beat Fabian Marozsan 6-7 (5), 4-6, 7-5, 6-0, 6-3. It is the fifth time he has come back from 0-2 to win a Grand Slam match.

“I was not calm after the first set because I was mad at myself for not doing better. It cost me in the second,” Medvedev said. “In the third, I had to really let it go. Just think about what I need to do.”

He will now face Learner Tien again, the American who upset him in a five-set second-round match last year.

The 25th-seeded Tien reached the fourth round again, beating Nuno Borges 7-6 (9), 6-4, 6-2.

(With AP Inputs)