Carlos Alcaraz vowed he would be ready “to do war” on Rod Laver Arena. In the event, what unfolded against Miomir Kecmanovic, a 24-year-old from Serbia who pushed Alcaraz all the way to a final-set tiebreak in their only previous meeting, was little more than a minor skirmish, the Spanish world No 2 advancing to the Australian Open quarter-finals for the first time with a 6-4, 6-4, 6-0 victory.
So what was it that worked so well this time around, Jim Courier asked Alcaraz, recalling the dramatic three-set tussle between the pair at the Miami Open almost two years ago? “Well, I think everything,” replied Alcaraz without missing a beat. It was hard to disagree.
Having laboured towards the end of last season, Alcaraz is slowly rediscovering the joy that invariably accompanies his best tennis. He has dropped just one set so far, against Italy’s Lorenzo Sonego in round two, and here his signature blend of outrageous athleticism, thunderous baseline play and silken touch proved irresistible.
In his finest performance so far at Melbourne Park, Alcaraz ran Kecmanovic ragged, his 43 winners conjured from every corner of the court as he completed a personal grand slam of major quarter-finals. In the open era, only Boris Becker, Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic have reached the last eight of all four blue-riband events at a younger age. The impression is of a man on a similar path to the one he trod last year at Wimbledon, where he became more comfortable with the surface and surroundings with each passing round. We all know how that one ended.
“I didn’t play so much here in Rod Laver, I didn’t play so much as well [on Wimbledon’s Centre Court],” said Alcaraz. “Probably the process could be the same or similar.
“Every match that I’m playing, I’m feeling better and better on a court I didn’t play [on] so much. Hopefully the same as Wimbledon.”
High on confidence but lower on energy after recovering from match point down to win in five sets in both of his two previous matches, Kecmanovic was run ragged by the Spaniard, who broke in the third game with a fortuitous net cord and never looked back. If Alcaraz was grateful to his opponent for removing Tommy Paul from his path – the 14th-seeded American, a semi-finalist last year, has won two of their four previous meetings – he had a funny way of showing it.
“I pushed him to the limit in every ball, in every point,” said Alcaraz. “Obviously, he has played a lot of matches in five sets, a lot of tough matches before this one. Probably, physically, he wasn’t at his 100%. In every ball, I pushed him to the limit and moved him side to side. I could take my chances in every set, and I think it was a pretty good match for myself.”
The Spaniard did not face a break point throughout, and even the faintest glimmers of hope for Kecmanovic was ruthlessly and summarily snuffed out. A case in point came early in the second set, when the Serb gained a rare foothold in an Alcaraz service game only to send a makable return long. Moments later, Alcaraz thumped a ferocious off-forehand to hold. When he went on to secure a break in the seventh game, punctuating a 22-stroke rally with a searing cross-court backhand, the contest was over in all but name.
Alcaraz will face Alexander Zverev in the quarter-finals after the German sixth seed prevailed 7-5, 3-6, 6-3, 4-6, 7-6 (10-3) against Britain’s Cameron Norrie. Zverev, a semi-finalist at Melbourne Park in 2020, has won four of his seven meetings with the Spaniard, most recently in the group stage of the ATP Finals last November. Alcaraz, meanwhile, claimed a straight-sets victory when the pair met in the quarter-finals at Flushing Meadows last year, two days after Zverev had outlasted Jannik Sinner in a punishing five-set marathon.
“I’m not like [I was at] the US Open, where I was completely dead and where I felt physically exhausted,” said Zverev, who also pushed to a final-set tiebreak by the Slovakian qualifier Lukas Klein in round two.
“I’m tired, for sure, because I played 7-6 in the fifth set again two times out of the last three matches, but I’m not dead. I’m not completely exhausted. I’m not in the same physical state I was in the US Open. I expect it to be very different, to be honest.”
In the other quarter-final in the lower half of the draw, Daniil Medvedev will face Hubert Hurkacz. The Russian third seed saw off Portugal’s Nuno Borges 6-3, 7-6 (7-4), 5-7, 6-1.
“It’s tough to return his serve,” said Medvedev of Hurkacz, who ran out a 7-6 (8-6), 7-6 (7-3), 6-4 over Arthur Cazaux of France. “That’s going to be the key. I need to stay strong on my serve, don’t give him the break, either try to break him or go to the tiebreak and try to win the tiebreak.”