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Khachanov, Anderson book third-round meeting

Carlos Alcaraz recorded the biggest win of his career on Wednesday, when he upset top seed David Goffin 6-3, 6-3 at the Great Ocean Road Open in Melbourne.

The 2020 Newcomer of the Year saved six of seven break points and won 75 per cent of second-serve return points to overcome the 2017 Nitto ATP Finals runner up in 73 minutes. This is Alcaraz’s first win against a Top 15 player. The 17-year-old entered the contest with only three previous matches against Top 100 opposition (3-0).

“It was a very good match,” said Alcaraz. “I always want to play these kind of matches against great players like Goffin. I'm very happy with this win today and looking forward to the next round.”

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Alcaraz improves to 5-0 at all levels this year. Last month, the #NextGenATP Spaniard dropped just one set in three matches to qualify for his maiden Grand Slam main draw at the Australian Open.

“He just killed me, so I would say he's good… He had nothing to lose today. He qualified for his first Grand Slam. He's under 18. He's hitting the ball unbelievable,” said Goffin. “I don't know if he's playing like tonight every day, every match, but it was a huge performance tonight. He didn't let me play.”

Alcaraz’s win acts as another checkpoint in the Murcia native’s rapid rise on the ATP Tour. The 6’1” right-hander claimed three ATP Challenger Tour titles and rose more than 350 positions in the FedEx ATP Rankings last year to reach a career-high No. 136 on 19 October.

Alcaraz will meet Thiago Monteiro for a place in the quarter-finals in Melbourne. The Brazilian recovered from a set down to defeat Matthew Ebden 6-7(4), 6-4, 6-3.


Second seed Karen Khachanov began his 2021 season with a 7-6(5), 6-3 win against Max Purcell. The four-time ATP Tour titlist landed 11 aces and saved all four break points he faced to set up a blockbuster third-round clash against two-time Grand Slam runner-up Kevin Anderson.

Anderson claimed his place in the third round with a 57-minute 6-4, 6-2 win against Cedrik-Marcel Stebe. The South African dropped just four points behind his first serve (27/31) to book a second ATP Head2Head clash against Khachanov. Anderson rallied from a set down to win his only previous match against the Russian 4-6, 6-2, 6-3 at the 2018 Miami Open presented by Itau.

Reilly Opelka also started his Great Ocean Road Open campaign with a win. The sixth seed beat Sergiy Stakhovsky 7-6(8), 6-4 in 82 minutes. Opelka saved one set point at 7/8 in the first-set tie-break and fired 17 aces to earn his first win of the year.

Murray/Soares Earn Team Comeback Win
In their match as a team since Roland Garros in 2019, Jamie Murray and Bruno Soares claimed a 7-6(4), 6-3 victory against Pablo Andujar and Pedro Martinez.

The 2016 Australian Open and US Open champions saved all four break points they faced and won 85 per cent of their first-serve points (28/33) to reach the the quarter-finals in 83 minutes. Murray and Soares are chasing their 11th team title and their fourth crown on Australian soil. Alongside their 2016 title run at the opening Grand Slam event of the year, Murray and Soares also triumphed on two occasions in Sydney (2016, ’19).

Hubert Hurkacz and Jannik Sinner also reached the quarter-finals on Wednesday. The unseeded pair needed just 57 minutes to eliminate fourth seeds Pierre-Hugues Herbert and Henri Kontinen 6-1, 6-4.

#NextGenATP Spaniard will play Hurkacz or Ymer in the second round
If Carlos Alcaraz was nervous for his Grand Slam main draw debut on Tuesday, he certainly didn’t show it.

The #NextGenATP Spaniard played aggressive, composed tennis to dispatch fellow qualifier Botic Van de Zandschulp 6-1, 6-4, 6-4 in the first round of the Australian Open.

"I'm very happy to win today in my first Grand Slam," Alcaraz said. "I tried to enjoy, to play my game. I think I did it. I enjoyed [the match]. I got the experience. I'm excited to play my second round."

Both players were making their major debuts, so nerves were to be expected. But 17-year-old Alcaraz was unfazed by the moment, losing just nine points in the first set. Juan Carlos Ferrero’s protege weathered every storm he faced on Court 17 en route to a one-hour, 54-minute victory.

After being in hard lockdown for two weeks, it would have been understandable had the teenager got off to a slow start in Australia. But last week Alcaraz upset top seed David Goffin in the Great Ocean Road Open, and now he is through his major debut in straight sets.


Van de Zandschulp was not an easy draw for Alcaraz, either, despite it also being the Dutchman’s Slam debut. Last week, the 25-year-old beat Reilly Opelka and pushed big-hitting Russian Karen Khachanov deep into a third set in a match that lasted two hours and 37 minutes.

But Alcaraz had an answer to every surge his opponent made. In the early going, Van de Zandschulp misfired often and allowed the Spaniard to find a rhythm. But the Dutchman rallied from a break down in the second set and his baseline power began to push the player nearly a decade his junior behind the baseline for the first time in the match.

What stood out about Alcaraz was that he never showed frustration or panic. After losing serve for the first — and only — time in the match at 3-2 in the second set, the three-time ATP Challenger Tour champion broke back in the next game.

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The 6’1” righty showed plenty of skill, too. In one point, Van de Zandschulp struck a solid overhead. Alcaraz, who was so close to the back wall that he was off the screen, somehow guessed the right direction and crushed a backhand winner up the line.

The 17-year-old hit two more winners than Van de Zandschulp (26-24) and made 21 fewer unforced errors (23-44). The Dutchman double faulted the deciding break away in the third set and Alcaraz did not flinch when serving out the match, screaming “Vamos!” and smiling at his team after clinching his triumph.

"I played a very good first set. I think he missed a lot of balls. I tried to be focussed all the time," Alcaraz said. "The second set was very, very tough. He played a really good game in the second set. I tried to be relaxed in the tough moments."

Alcaraz was barely inside the Top 500 of the FedEx ATP Rankings at the start of last season. Now at World No. 141, he is charging towards the Top 100. The teen will next play Swede Mikael Ymer, who upset 26th seed Hubert Hurkacz 3-6, 6-3, 3-6, 7-5, 6-3 after three hours and 44 minutes.

Ymer is into the second round of the Australian Open for the second consecutive year. The 22-year-old has not made the third round at a major.

Did You Know?
Alcaraz is the youngest man to win a Grand Slam match since Thanasi Kokkinakis at the 2014 Australian Open.