Great debut for Carlos Alcaraz in his second Australian Open, the first that he already plays as seeded (it is the 31st). The 18-year-old from Murcia played two impeccable sets before beating Alejandro Tabilo in three (6-2, 6-2 and 6-3 in 1h54) and will face the Hungarian Fucsovics or the Serbian Lajovic in the second round, with the aim of move to the third for the first time, since in 2021 he was eliminated by the Swedish Mikael Ymer after he beat the Dutch Van de Zandschulp.
With an outfit that is very reminiscent of Rada Nadal’s young years, with a red Nike sleeveless shirt, Alcaraz subdued the 24-year-old Chilean and 136th in the world, who came from playing three games in the previous tournament. A few weeks ago he faced and fell against Pablo Carreño in the ATP Cup and this time, before another disciple of the JC Ferrero Equelite Academy, he succumbed at least with honor in a third set in which he made things more difficult for Charly until 4-3. The Spaniard stood out for his service, connecting 12 aces, some at 211 km/h, for a total of 40 winning shots.
🌀 What a way to start, @alcarazcarlo03! 🇪🇸
He sweeps Tabilo and gets into the second round of the #AusOpen with authority
We connect now #E2 with the Sorribes-Flipkens 📲 pic.twitter.com/cry4H7J15l
— Eurosport.es (@Eurosport_ES) January 17, 2022
To the rest, Alcaraz also shone at a great height with seven breaks in the 16 opportunities he had. The spectators on Court 7 of Melbourne Park enjoyed, despite the threat of rain, Carlos’s ball speed, the one he prints so easily thanks to his armed right arm, increasingly stocky. The long preseason seems to have paid off, although the lack of activity was noticeable a bit in the last race, in which it was more difficult for him to close.
Australian Open Men’s Draw.