Australian Open Day 4 Men’s Recap: Seeds Complete Sweep

There were lots of high-quality matches on Day 4 at the Australian Open, but if you were looking for upsets on the men’s side of the draw, you won’t find any. Seeds compiled a 13-0 record on Wednesday, including World No. 1 Carlos Alcaraz, World No. 3 Alexander Zverev, and World No. 6 Alex De Minaur. Their wins have set up some spicy third-round matches, while some younger players particularly impressed. Who were they? LWOT breaks down Day 4 below.

Australian Open Day 4 Men’s Recap:

Who Looked Good

As casual tennis fans implore for a fourth consecutive Grand Slam final between Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner, World No. 1 Alcaraz got a tiny bit closer to that big stage. His draw will get tougher from now on, but a 7-6 (4) 6-3 6-2 win over Yannick Hanfmann was a good test. Alcaraz trailed by a break early in the first set, and had to dig deep to win a tiebreaker in a nearly 80-minute opener.

Alex De Minaur dropped his first set of the tournament, but he faced an aggressive and offensive Hamad Medjedovic, winning 6-7 (5) 6-2 6-2 6-1. Medjedovic hit 47 winners, but a high count of 65 unforced errors plunged the Serbian into insurmountable territory. Alexander Zverev similarly won in four sets, but benefited from his opponent, Alexandre Muller, firing 40 unforced errors to just 20 winners. Both higher seeds were solid off when placing first serves, and if anything, they may feel good about getting extra match reps in, ahead of the later tournament rounds. 

One of the best performing top players on Wednesday was Alexander Bublik, the No. 10 seed, who is one of just four in the top half of the draw to win all six sets thus far. Bublik defeated Marton Fucsovics, shaking off a few poor-serving games and hitting 48 winners. A possible fourth-round clash against De Minaur looms; Bublik must defeat the Argentine Tomas Martin Etcheverry in the next round, who looked impressive in his own second-round sweep against qualifier Arthur Fery.

Who Looked Bad

As mentioned, no seeds were lost on Wednesday, though it wasn’t the best day at the office for some underdogs who lost anticlimactically. Damir Dzhumur only managed to win six games against the power-hitter Francisco Cerundolo; Dzhumur hit just 11 winners in the match and lost the majority of second serve points.

After Jordan Thompson won a thrilling opening set 7-6 (9) against Portuguese Nuno Borges, the home favorite rapidly faded in front of a partisan crowd. Thompson lost the next three sets, with the Aussie struggling in the rallies against an all-court grinder. Thompson also lost the last five games of the match, with Borges winning 6-7 (9) 6-3 6-2 6-4 overall. That scoreline was identical to Daniil Medvedev’s on Wednesday, who also cruised as a disappointing Quentin Halys couldn’t build on a strong opening set. The Frenchman hit 54 unforced errors, to just Medvedev’s 25.

Match of the Day

There was just one five-setter on Wednesday, as Alejandro Davidovich Fokina battled past the big-serving Reilly Opelka on the outer courts. The Spaniard was two points away from a straight-set victory, but Opelka’s power allowed him to work his way back into the match.