Australian Open 2025: Clinical Carlos Alcaraz strikes fear in his opening win

It was a beastly match from Carlos Alcaraz in his opener at the Australian Open 2025. The Spaniard warned that the first Grand Slam of the year (the only one he has yet to win) was one of his great objectives and it seems that he has arrived in a fantastic form after a very complicated second part of 2024

He has passed over the Kazakh Aleksandr Shevchenko, who he destroyed in three sets (6-1, 7-5, 6-1). His opponent in the second round on Wednesday January 15 will be the Japanese Yoshihito Nishioka, who won in four sets against the Tunisian Mohamed Aziz Dougaz.

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Carlitos started like a locomotive in this duel, being very aggressive with his serve and, above all, very aggressive in the rest. The first set was a non event finishing 6-1 with ease. Shevchenko did not know anything on the Margaret Court Arena.

The second set was more complex and Carlito’s opponent put up much more resistance, even breaking the Spaniard's serve. However, when the moment of truth came, the world number 3 showed his greater mental strength and ended up taking the set.

In the third set, Carlos Alcaraz came back in a very strong Carlos Alcaraz mode and closed the match with another 6-1. Juan Carlos Ferrero's plan to increase the power of his pupil's strokes seems to be working from the start.

There is still a lot of Australian Open ahead for the Spaniard and he will not have it easy with a very tough draw with men like Novak Djokovic or Alexander Zverev and, above all, with a Jannik Sinner who today seems unbeatable on hard court. Playing like this, it seems that the Spaniard, winner of Roland Garros and Wimbledon last year, is his only rival.

Elsewhere, Novak Djokovic is having some issue but his opponent is letting him get away with it through cramp while Nick Kyrgios appears to be heading out.

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