MELBOURNE: A relentless Carlos Alcaraz charged into the third round of the Australian Open on Wednesday with a 6-0 6-1 6-4 rout of Japan’s Yoshito Nishioka, continuing his domination of lefthanders at Grand Slams.
Third seed Alcaraz has never lost to a “southpaw” at the majors and extended the streak to eight against the outgunned Nishioka in lightning-quick match lasting just one hour and 21 minutes at Margaret Court Arena.
“I think the less time you spend on the court at the Grand Slams … it’s going to be better, you know?” said the Spaniard. “Physically, I’m feeling great. “I just tried to be focused.”
Alcaraz won the first nine games in succession before world number 65 Nishioka broke through to hold serve, earning a warm ovation from a sympathetic afternoon crowd.
It would prove only a brief interruption to Alcaraz’s momentum, however, as the Spaniard ramped up the aggression to take a two-set lead in 43 minutes. Serving out the second set to love, Alcaraz had won 50 points to Nishioka’s 15.
To his credit, Nishioka dug in for the third set, serving strongly and even out-rallying Alcaraz at times, belatedly giving fans a contest.
But Alcaraz broke him in the fifth game and closed out the match in style, stepping in to fire a forehand winner after Nishioka barely managed to return serve.
Alcaraz worked on making his serve more potent in the off-season and was thrilled with how it held up against Nishioka. He racked up 14 aces and three double-faults without giving Nishioka a single break point chance.
“I’m really happy with the serve today, it’s something that I worked on,” he said. “I wasn’t too happy with the serve in the first round. “I’m just glad it works (now), pretty, pretty well. Hopefully in the next round it’s going to be better.”
Alcaraz will play the winner of Jordan Thompson and Nuno Borges for a place in the fourth round at Melbourne Park where he reached the quarter-finals last year, his best finish at the Grand Slam.
Winning the title would make him the youngest man to claim the “career Slam”, having already won Wimbledon (twice), the French Open and US Open.
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Eight players have achieved the milestone.
“That’s one of the reasons I really want to win this tournament one day, just to put my name on that short list,” he said. “Hopefully (it’s) this year … I just want to be day-by- day, let’s see how it’s going to feel.”
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