Carlos Alcaraz reaches round two with straight sets win over ...

Updated 16/01/2024 at 12:52 GMT

Carlos Alcaraz shrugged off questions about his preparation for the Australian Open with an encouraging straight sets win over Richard Gasquet in the first round.

The second seed went into the first Grand Slam of the year without playing a warm-up tournament, but found his range quickly against the experienced Frenchman.

Alcaraz found himself locked in a tough opening set, which was settled on a tie-break, before his physicality proved too much for the 37-year-old as the Spainard came home 7-6(5) 6-1 6-2.

The 20-year-old will next face Italy's Lorenzo Sonego, who beat Great Britain's Dan Evans in four sets.

The first set was extremely tight and Gasquet rolled back the years with a couple of stunning single-handed back hands, with Nick Kyrgios saying on Eurosport commentary duty "those are the shots you have to hit if you want to hang with Alcaraz".

Alcaraz had a first chance to break at 3-3, but Gasquet fought back from 15-40 to level the match, allowing the Frenchman to re-grip his racket, which has become a habit.

Alcaraz seals the second set with a big ace against Gasquet

“It’s wild, it’s absurd - his grip has a bumpy bit at the end, it’s crazy,” said Kyrgios. “So unorthodox, I love it”.

The set went to a tie-break, which was about as close as the previous 12 games had gone. Gasquet earned a mini break on an Alcaraz double fault, but the world No. 2 fought back with a brilliant cross-court forehand before sealing the set following a cat-and-mouse rally at the net.

Alcaraz was in the ascendancy and he was in punishing form at the start of the second set. Within minutes, he was 3-0 up against his more experienced opponent as he began to turn the screw.

The Wimbledon champion was into his rhythm and finding his range, with Gasquet increasingly struggling to deal with the amount of running he was being made to do.

Alcaraz opens up with uncharacteristic error against Gasquet

“He is physically on the wane,” said Nick Lester on commentary, before Alcaraz secured another break and served it out to take the second set 6-1. It took just half an hour, a huge change from the opener - which lasted one hour and 12 minutes.

The third set followed the same pattern, with Gasquet dropping serve in the opening game following some big hitting from Alcaraz. “He’s opening up now - scary,” said Kyrgios.

Another break followed straight after and now the Spaniard had his eye on a bagel, with Gasquet looking increasingly fatigued and frustrated and Alcaraz now “on fire”, according to Kyrgios

The French veteran got himself on the board in the fifth game of the set and had a final flurry with a brilliant backhand swat of a shot as he reduced the deficit to 5-2.

With Gasquet able to swing without pressure, Alcaraz had to work hard to serve out for victory - but eventually did so following a fifth deuce of the eighth game with an ace out wide.

Alcaraz can expect a tough test when he faces Lorenzo, an opponent he’s faced once and lost to, though that was back in 2021 at the Cincinnati Masters.

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