After missing the 2023 Australian Open, Carlos Alcaraz returned to Melbourne Park in winning fashion on Tuesday night. Alcaraz kicked off his fortnight with a 7-6(5), 6-1, 6-2 victory over Richard Gasquet, advancing in two hours and 22 minutes.
The second-ranked Spaniard struck nine aces, saved both of the break points he faced, and more than doubled his unforced error count with winners (53 to 26).
“In the first set I struggled a little bit with his game,” Alcaraz admitted. “Richard was playing great, as well, but every set I [played] better and better and in the end I played quite a good level…. He’s been around forever. He’s an amazing player. He has a lot of talent. His backhand is amazing; it’s crazy. He did a pretty good first set and then I [played] my own game.”
Nine of 10 seeded men who took the court on Tuesday joined Alcaraz in round two. The only exception was Alexander Bublik, from whom you never know what you are going to get on any given day. It was most definitely the bad Bublik against qualifier Sumit Nagal, as the 31st-ranked Kazakh turned in nine double-faults and was broken a ridiculous six times in just three sets on the way to a 6-4, 6-2, 7-6(5) loss.
Nagal lost two consecutive service points at 6-3 an 6-4 in the tiebreaker only to be gifted his third match point when Bublik appropriately double-faulted.
“You can talk about my spirit,” said Nagal, who is listed at 5’10” and 152 pounds and comes in at No. 137 in the rankings. “But i it’s also true that I’m not a very tall guy, so every game is important–every point becomes important. If I get a small chance to put pressure on a big server like Sascha, I should take it. He can play incredible tennis for 15 minutes and for the next 15 he can give you some free points; because of [that] you fight for every point.”
Nagal is the first Indian man to beat a seeded opponent at a Grand Slam since 1989 (Ramesh Krishnan over Mats Wilander in round two of the Australian Open).
Although the seeds mostly dominated on Tuesday, there was plenty of drama on display. Five matches went the five-set distance, including a dramatic 7-6(1), 2-6, 6-7(4), 6-1, 7-6(10-8) victory for Thanasi Kokkinakis over Sebastian Ofner. In other five-set results, Jerry Shang beat Mackenzie McDonald, Jack Draper overcame Marcos Giron, Arthur Cazaux edged Laslo Djere, and Tallon Griekspoor recovered from two sets down to defeat Roman Safiullin.
Alcaraz off an running