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Carlos Alcaraz fends off bugs to win Australian Open return

Carlos Alcaraz fends off bugs to win Australian Open return

MELBOURNE, Australia — The bugs bothered Carlos Alcaraz in his first match at the Australian Open in two years, and so did 37-year-old veteran Richard Gasquet.

For the first set, at least.

After taking an hour and 12 minutes to clinch the opener in a tiebreaker, No. 2-ranked Alcaraz raced through the rest of the match in another hour against the tiring, sweat-soaked Frenchman for a 7-6 (5), 6-1, 6-2 win Tuesday night.

The first two games took a combined 17 minutes, with the 20-year-old Alcaraz needing a few moments to try to remove a persistent insect that was bothering him behind the baseline just before he held for 1-1.

Both players used their rackets to push the bugs away from the court after the eighth game, and Alcaraz was at it again after the first set.

There were few distractions after that until Alcaraz was serving for the match and the game went to deuce five times before he closed with an ace.

He threw in some drop shots and slices that made Gasquet run, saying it shows he’s “playing for myself, but I always try to make the people enjoy watching tennis.”

“Every set, I played better and better,” he said. “In the end, I played at quite a good level.”

He will next play Lorenzo Sonego, who beat Dan Evans 4-6, 7-6 (8), 6-2, 7-6 (4).

Sixth-seeded Alexander Zverev dropped the first set before rallying to beat fellow German Dominik Koepfer 4-6, 6-3, 7-6 (3), 6-3 in a night match on Margaret Court Arena.

The win came a day after Zverev, 26, was ordered to stand trial later this year in an assault case in Germany, though the men’s tennis tour ruled last January that Zverev would not face disciplinary action after its own investigation.

Zverev was a finalist at the US Open in 2020, won the men’s singles Olympic gold medal in 2021 and is sixth in the rankings.

He led Germany to victory in the United Cup team tournament in Sydney last week, but said playing a Grand Slam tournament in Melbourne was very different.

Zverev said he was seriously tested by Koepfer and was struggling for rhythm, but added: “You’ve got to focus on yourself, your own shots.”

Amid blazing heat and blustery conditions earlier Tuesday, at least one player was enjoying the weather, as Norwegian Casper Ruud basked in the sunshine during a routine 6-1, 6-3, 6-1 win over Albert…

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