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, has already 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.
The Czech Republic’s Jiri Lehecka, seeded 24th, led 6-3, 3-1 when France’s Hugo Gaston retired. Another Czech player advanced, as 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
