Carlos Alcaraz made quick work of his second-round match at the Australian Open.
The third-seeded Spaniard powered to a 6-0, 6-1, 6-4 win over Japan’s Yoshihito Nishioka in 88 minutes on Wednesday in Melbourne, Australia.
Alcaraz, 21, already has surpassed his most recent Grand Slam performance, when he was stunned in the second round of the 2024 U.S. Open by the Netherlands’ Botic van de Zandschulp.
Alcaraz never faced a break point, finished with a 14-1 edge in aces and logged 36 winners to seven by Nishioka, who is ranked 65th in the world.
“I’m really happy with the serve today,” Alcaraz said. “This is something that I worked on in the preseason. In the first round I struggled a little bit, so I wasn’t too happy with the serve.
“Yesterday I was more focused on practicing the serve. I spent more time just serving with Juan Carlos (Ferrero, his coach), with my team, and it’s something that I really want to be better. So I’m just glad that today it worked pretty well. Hopefully in the next round it is going to be better.”
Up next for Alcaraz is Portugal’s Nuno Borges, who eliminated 27th-seeded Jordan Thompson of Australia 6-3, 6-2, 6-4.
Seventh-seeded Novak Djokovic, bidding for his 11th Australian Open title, moved into the third round with a 6-1, 6-7 (4), 6-3, 6-2 victory over Portuguese qualifier Jaime Faria.
“He was playing lights-out tennis towards the end of the second set and beginning of the third. I had to weather the storm,” the Serbian star said. “It’s not easy to play someone like that who doesn’t have obviously anything to lose coming out. He’s a big guy, very young… so I told him at the net, the future is bright for him, he should keep going.”
No. 2 seed Alexander Zverev of Germany rolled to a 6-1, 6-4, 6-1 win over Spain’s Pedro Martinez. Zverev won 77 percent (23 of 30) net points, tallied eight aces and saved all six break points.
“Usually I play 7-6 in the fifth to entertain you guys a bit, (but) I’m getting older so I have to shorten things up a little bit,” Zverev said of his 1-hour, 54-minute win. “Hopefully there will be a lot more of that in the later rounds.”
Czech teenager Jakub Mensik scored a 6-2, 3-6, 6-1, 6-4 upset of sixth-seeded Norwegian Casper Ruud. The 19-year-old upstart hammered 22 aces and saved seven of eight break points.
No. 12 seed Tommy Paul, No. 15 Jack Draper of Great Britain, No. 20 Arthur Fils of France and No. 29 Felix Auger-Aliassime of Canada also advanced. Draper and Auger-Aliassime survived five-setters, but No. 22 Sebastian Korda was not so fortunate, falling 6-4, 3-6, 2-6, 6-3, 7-5 to Australia’s Aleksandar Vukic.
The Czech Republic’s Jiri Lehecka, seeded 24th, led 6-3, 3-1 when France’s Hugo Gaston retired.
Another Czech player advanced, as No. 26 seed Tomas Machac pulled out a 3-6, 7-6 (1), 6-7 (5), 7-6 (4), 6-4 win over the United States’ Reilly Opelka. Each player broke serve just once in the match, with Machac getting his break in the penultimate game.
France’s Benjamin Bonzi defeated Italy’s Francesco Passaro, a lucky loser from qualifying, 6-2, 6-4, 3-6, 6-4.
–Field Level Media
