Carlos Alcaraz starts the Australian Open with a very good taste in his mouth. The 21-year-old tennis player from Murcia arrives at the Grand Slam with the challenge of winning the only major tournament that remains pending, since the furthest he has gone in the Open of the oceanic country is the quarterfinals. The one from El Palmar defeated the Kazakh Alexander Shevchenko with ease 6-1, 7-5 and 6-1 in less than two hours, although he had to overcome the scare he suffered in the second set, in which he went from having everything under control (3-1) to be on the verge of losing it (3-5).
Alcaraz’s journey in his sixteenth participation in a Grand Slam has started in the best possible way. He started the game by subtracting and, in the second game – in which he was already serving – he had to save a ball from break by Shevchenko. The Murcian, more energized after saving 0-2, activated the ‘gale’ mode and tied the first set with six consecutive games in less than half an hour.
In the second round, the script seemed to repeat itself, since he once again won a break point until he was 3-1. But a disconnection changed the tides of the match and his rival knew how to exploit the Spaniard’s slump to equalize the second act. Shevchenko went further and broke another Alcaraz serve to increase her lead to 3-5. The Murcian reacted in time, once again dominated the duel at will and ended up winning the set 7-5.
Arriving in the third act, Carlos Alcaraz was more lethal and showed off his overwhelming version at the Margaret Court Arena in Melbourne Park. He managed to finish the match with another 6-1 in 27 minutes.
The El Palmar tennis player’s opponent in the second round will be the Japanese Yoshihito Nishioka, number 65 in the ATP ranking. Both will face each other on Wednesday in what will be their second duel. The first dates back to the 2022 Paris-Bercy Masters 1000, with a favorable result for Alcaraz, who won by a double 6-4.
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