2022 AUSTRALIAN OPEN DAY 5 MEN’S NOTES

2022 AUSTRALIAN OPEN DAY 5 MEN’S NOTES Friday 21 January 3rd Round Top Half No. 3 Alexander Zverev (GER) v (Q) Radu Albot (MDA) Page 2 No. 6 Rafael Nadal (ESP) v No. 28 Karen Khachanov (RUS) Page 5 No. 7 Matteo Berrettini (ITA) v No. 31 Carlos Alcaraz (ESP) Page 8 No. 14 Denis Shapovalov (CAN) v No. 23 Reilly Opelka (USA) Page 11 No. 16 Cristian Garin (CHI) v No. 17 Gael Monfils (FRA) Page 13 No. 18 Aslan Karatsev (RUS) v Adrian Mannarino (FRA) Page 16 No. 19 Pablo Carreno Busta (ESP) v Sebastian Korda (USA) Page 19 No. 25 Lorenzo Sonego (ITA) v Miomir Kecmanovic (SRB) Page 21 On court today… • In the first men’s match of the day on Rod Laver Arena, Wimbledon runner-up Matteo Berrettini faces Spain’s Carlos Alcaraz, with the Italian looking to advance to the round of 16 at a Grand Slam for the 8th time. Should he do so, he will equal the Open Era record held by Fabio Fognini and Adriano Panatta for most Grand Slam round of 16 appearances by an Italian man. Alcaraz, meanwhile, is bidding to become the youngest man to reach the last 16 here since Rafael Nadal in 2005 – and the 18-year-old has good reason to believe that he can achieve that today, having won his only previous meeting against Berrettini at Vienna in October last year. • Since reaching the last 16 as an 18-year-old here in 2005, Nadal has gone on to reach that stage on a total of 14 occasions – and he will aim to make that 15 when he plays Karen Khacahnov in the final match of the day on RLA. The pair are meeting for the first time since the group stages at the 2019 Davis Cup Finals, but they contested 7 matches over a 2-and-a-half-year period in 2017-19, with Nadal winning all 7 encounters for the loss of just one set. Khachanov must record a career-best victory at the Grand Slams if he is to progress today, having never defeated a Top 5 player at the majors. He is also bidding to end a 9-match losing streak against Top 5 opposition and record his first win over a Top 5 player since defeating No. 1 Novak Djokovic in the final at 2018 Paris-1000. • The 2nd match of the day on Kia Arena is a battle between the No. 16 and No. 17 seeds, Cristian Garin and Gael Monfils. Garin has reached the 3rd round after winning 2 five-set matches, while Monfils has dropped just 10 games in a pair of straight sets victories. Monfils is bidding to reach the round of 16 at a Grand Slam for the 20th time and become the 3rd Frenchman in the Open Era to make 20 appearances in the round of 16 at the Grand Slams, after Jo-Wilfried Tsonga and Richard Gasquet. Garin is aiming to reach the last 16 at a major for the 3rd time and would also be the first Chilean man to reach the round of 16 at the Australian Open since Fernando Gonzalez in 2010. • Pablo Carreno Busta and Sebastian Korda both came through tough 5-set matches to reach the 3rd round, and the pair now face off for a place in the last 16 in the 3rd match on Court 3 today. Korda is looking to become the 4th man in the last decade to reach the round of 16 on his Australian Open debut, after Marton Fucsovics and Tennys Sandgren in 2018 and Aslan Karatsev last year. Carreno Busta is aiming to advance to the round of 16 for the 3rd time – and will also record his 50th Grand Slam matchwin should he be victorious today. 2 2022 AUSTRALIAN OPEN DAY 5 MEN’S MATCH NOTES NO. 3 ALEXANDER ZVEREV (GER) v (Q) RADU ALBOT (MDA) Head-to-head: Zverev leads 1-0 2019 US Open Hard (O) R128 Zverev 61 63 36 46 62 A 2nd meeting for Zverev and Albot. Zverev won in 5 sets on their only previous meeting, in the 1st round at the 2019 US Open, resisting a comeback from 0-2 down by Albot. Zverev has won 9 of the 11 matches he has contested against qualifiers at the Grand Slams – including both of his previous matches against qualifiers at the Australian Open. His only defeats to qualifiers at the Grand Slams came both came at Wimbledon – in 2018, when he fell to Ernests Gulbis in the 3rd round, and 2019, when he fell to Jiri Vesely in the 1st round. Zverev has never lost an Australian Open match to a player ranked as low as No. 124 Albot. The lowestranked player to defeat Zverev here is No. 58 Hyeon Chung in the 3rd round in 2018. He has lost Grand Slam matches to players ranked as low as Albot on 2 occasions – to No. 138 Gulbis at 2018 Wimbledon and to No. 124 Vesely at 2019 Wimbledon.