No. 3 seed Carlos Alcaraz breezed previous Yoshihito Nishioka 6-0, 6-1, 6-4 in 81 minutes Wednesday to march into the third spherical of the Australian Open.
Alcaraz, winner of final yr’s French Open and Wimbledon, received off to a blistering begin and by no means seemed again, successful the primary 9 video games earlier than Nishioka may even get on the board.
It marked the shortest accomplished males’s match at this yr’s event by quarter-hour.
“The much less time you spend on the courtroom within the Grand Slams, particularly in the beginning of the event, it is gonna be higher, particularly bodily,” Alcaraz mentioned. “I simply attempt to be targeted on spending as much less time as I can,” on courtroom.
Alcaraz labored on making his serve stronger within the offseason and was thrilled with the way it held up in opposition to Nishioka. He racked up 14 aces and three double-faults with out giving Nishioka a single break level probability.
“I am actually pleased with the serve right now, it is one thing that I labored on,” he mentioned. “I wasn’t too pleased with the serve within the first spherical.”
He received 32 of 36 first serve factors (89%), his highest proportion of first serve factors received in any main match in his profession.
Alcaraz will play unseeded Nuno Borges — who knocked out Australian twenty seventh seed Jordan Thompson 6-3, 6-2, 6-4 — for a spot within the fourth spherical at Melbourne Park, the place he reached the quarterfinals final yr, his finest end on the main.
Successful the title would make him the youngest man to finish the profession Slam, having already received Wimbledon (twice), the French Open and US Open.
Eight gamers have achieved the milestone.
“That is one of many causes I actually need to win this event at some point, simply to place my identify on that brief record,” he mentioned. “Hopefully [it’s] this yr.”
In the meantime, on Rod Laver Enviornment, Novak Djokovic was enjoying in his 430th profession Grand Slam singles match, passing Roger Federer for many within the Open Period.
ESPN Analysis, The Related Press and Reuters contributed to this report.
