Carlos Alcaraz beats Tommy Paul to advance to Australian Open quarterfinals
MELBOURNE, Australia — After Carlos Alcaraz beat Tommy Paul to reach the quarterfinals of the Australian Open, attention turned to his serve.
World number one Alcaraz, who is in Australia trying to complete a career Grand Slam at the age of 22, has been reinventing it bit by bit.
He had a strong performance on Sunday, defeating No. 19 seed Paul 7-6 (6), 6-4, 7-5. He made no double faults, won 70% of his first serve points and won 79% of his points. His second serve scoring rate is also as high as 68%.
His redesigned serve looked familiar and didn’t escape Novak Djokovic’s notice. The 24-time Grand Slam winner joked earlier in the match that he had sent Alcaraz a message asking for royalties.
Alcaraz agreed when asked about it during an in-court television interview at Rod Laver Arena.
“Yeah. I heard about it. I’m there with the contract, but I haven’t met him yet!” the Spaniard said of his exchange with Djokovic.
On that subject, he said that when the video of the serving action surfaced during the preseason, he checked his phone and received a message from Djokovic that more or less said: “Well, you have to pay!”
Alcaraz said the locker room jokes made the game fun. Djokovic’s quest for an unprecedented 25th Grand Slam title has been stymied by Akaraz and Yannick Sinner’s eight titles shared over the past two years.
The one element missing from Alcaraz’s tennis resume is a trophy at Melbourne Park. He has never reached the quarterfinals. In next week’s quarterfinals, he will face local favorite Alex De Minaur or 10th-ranked Alexander Bublik.
Paul reached the Australian Open semifinals in 2023, so that worked in his favor heading into the fourth round against Alcaraz.
The two were about to face off in the first set decider, but their match was halted for more than 14 minutes due to medical reasons.
When the score was 3-3, referee Marija Cicak informed them that a spectator at Rod Laver Arena needed emergency medical attention.
The delay lasted so long that players had to play again for several minutes before play could resume and after medical and ambulance crews helped spectators leave the arena.
Alcaraz has been in the lead ever since. He broke serve in the crucial 10th game of the third set and ended the match in 2 hours and 44 minutes.
The two embraced in front of the net, and Alcaraz performed some dance moves on the court to entertain the crowd, then applauded the 28-year-old American as he walked off the court.
“Overall, the level of tennis was very high on both sides,” Alcaraz said. “Really happy that I won in straight sets.”
Alcaraz said he was aware of his serving numbers, adding in a modest boast that “yeah, to be honest, I’ve impressed myself” in the first four games at Melbourne Park.
“After every set, I try to check – check the screen,” he said. “Overall, I think serving has been a big weapon for me in the four matches I’ve played (here).”
