MELBOURNE, Australia – World No. 2 Carlos Alcaraz fell into the quarterfinals of the Australian Open, losing to No. 6 seed Alexander Zverev in four thrilling sets 6-1, 6-3, 6-7(2), 6. -4.
Alcaraz had already achieved a career-best result in the quarterfinal matchup in Melbourne, but Zverev jumped out early to win the first two sets.
Alcaraz bounced back in the third – breaking Zverev who was serving for the match at 5–3 – but was unable to hold his level in the fourth, losing in Melbourne in three hours and six minutes.
Here are three key takeaways from the match.
Zverev played lights-out tennis in the beginning
Sometimes you just need to give your opponent credit for playing well. While most of the focus was on the Spaniard and whether he could challenge Novak Djokovic for his second Slam title, Zverev swooped in and played two of the best sets of tennis we have seen in Melbourne in some time, and possibly his best set to date .
On the local broadcast, commentator Todd Woodbridge said that Zverev was hitting the ball as well as he had ever seen. Through two sets, Zverev committed only nine unforced errors, while Alcaraz, who had a slow and almost lethargic start to the match, scored 22 points.
Zverev’s serving was also on another level. After two sets, the German was hitting 90% of his first serves, and winning 84% of those points. And on four occasions Zverev had to serve second? He won all four points – barely giving Alcaraz a chance in his service game.
After being broken at love in Alcaraz’s first service game, the momentum was with Zverev as he looked for winners and put Alcaraz in uncomfortable positions on the court, and it clearly unsettled the Spaniard, who really struggled amid the contest. I had just started getting a grip. Third set.
Alcaraz got off to a slow start
It’s never good when a player double-faults on the first service point of their match, and that’s exactly what Alcaraz did to the murmurs around Rod Laver Arena.
It didn’t get any better. Alcaraz was broken at love in his first service game – making three consecutive bad errors – and in the blink of an eye, Zverev had led 3–0 after just eight minutes of play.
It’s hard to overstate how poorly Alcaraz played at times. On at least three occasions during the first hour of play, the world No. 2 attempted his usually reliable drop shots, but they were not effective, giving Zverev ample time to chase down and punish the return ball.
In the first set, Alcaraz’s first serve percentage was only 55%, and he was only winning 50% of the points when his first serve was going. He hit only two winners and made 11 unforced errors.
Coming into the clash, the Spaniard was 0-6 after losing the first two sets, including a loss to Zverev in the 2022 French Open quarter-finals. While Zverev’s level dropped significantly in the third (at least, compared to his opening two stanzas), Alcaraz was unable to keep his game at a high level for long, ultimately losing in the fourth set.
Alcaraz is just 20 years old
He certainly doesn’t look like it, but Carlos Alcaraz is still very young.
Having won his first Slam just months after his 19th birthday, it is easy to expect that Alcaraz will “get on with it” following in the footsteps of other generational talents like Djokovic, Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal. But it should be remembered that Federer was 21 when he won his first Slam, and Djokovic was 20 when he won his first Slam in Melbourne in 2008.
And with Djokovic not expected to play forever, there will be a void at the top of men’s tennis that will allow opportunities for Alcaraz – a pure hitter with one of the best forehands on the tour – to capture a Slam victory. .
He is already ahead of rivals his age, such as Zverev, Jannik Sinner and Holger Rune, and will win more as his career develops. He will learn from nights like he did against Zverev in Melbourne – you can’t give the world’s best tennis players a two-set lead in a Slam quarter-final.
