Carlos Alcaraz Advances at Australian Open

MELBOURNE, Australia -- Top-seeded Carlos Alcaraz reached the third round Wednesday at the Australian Open, defeating Germany's Yannick Hanfmann in a tough match for the Spaniard, who prevailed 7-6 (4), 6-3, 6-2. "I knew he (Hanfmann) was going to play great," Alcaraz said. "I knew his level. We'd played a few times already. But to be honest, it was tougher than I thought." "The ball was coming as a bomb -- forehand, backhand, so I had to be ready for that," Alcaraz added of Hanfmann's shot making. Alcaraz, 22, is trying to win his first title at Melbourne Park to become the youngest man to complete a career Grand Slam. In other men's results, 2021 US Open winner and 11th-seeded Daniil Medvedev beat Quentin Halys 6-7 (9), 6-3, 6-4, 6-2; 13th-seeded Andrey Rublev beat Jaime Faria 6-4, 6-3, 4-6, 7-5; and 19th-seeded Tommy Paul defeated Thiago Agustin Tirante 6-3, 6-4, 6-2. Also, 14th-seeded Alejandro Davidovich Fokina won the first two sets but then struggled to beat American Reilly Opelka 6-3, 7-6 (3), 5-7, 4-6, 6-4. The Associated Press contributed to this report.