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Alcaraz produced a highlight-reel 6-2 6-4 6-1 demolition of French drop-shot merchant Corentin Moutet before 21-year-old Gauff recovered from losing her first set of the tournament to overhaul fellow American Hailey Baptiste 3-6 6-0 6-3. Chasing a first title at Melbourne Park, 22-year-old Alcaraz is bidding to become the youngest man to win all four majors and has appeared unstoppable in the first week.
In response, she said: Yeah, I mean, I was born in America so I'm always proud to represent my country; and yeah, a lot of us are doing really well and it's great to see a lot of, you know, great athletes on the women's side, on the men's side. So yeah, I feel like we're all doing a great job representing ourselves.
On a Wednesday in the desert last March, Reilly Opelka, the American with a cannon of a serve, was grinding out a tough match against French number one Arthur Rinderknech. Nearby, former US Open men's finalist Kei Nishikori beat Luca Nardi, part of the new wave of Italian talent, while Brazilian phenom Joao Fonseca closed out Pavel Kotov, who reached number 50 in the world in 2024.