Aurélien Canot, Media365, published on Monday January 13, 2025 at 12:23 p.m.
Quarter-finalist of the last edition, Carlos Alcaraz easily dominated (6-1, 7-5, 6-1) the Kazakh Alexander Shevchenko on Monday for his entry into the Australian Open. Novak Djokovic defeated young American Nishesh Basavareddy in four sets (4-6, 6-4, 6-3, 6-2).
Carlos Alcaraz still does not know the taste of defeat in the first round in a Grand Slam. On Monday, the young 21-year-old Spanish champion, who is participating in Melbourne in his sixteenth Major since his debut, continued his impressive series of victories in a first Grand Slam match by easily winning (6-1, 7-5, 6- 1 in 1h54) from Kazakh Alexander Shevchenko for his entry into the Australian Open where he reached the quarter-finals during the last edition, his best result in three participations. The world number 3 obviously dreams of going even further this year. And it starts well for “Carlitos”, with this little walk in the park against the 77th in the world, whom he had already swept aside (6-2, 6-1) in Madrid last season. The Australian public has long thought that the winner of Roland-Garros and Wimbledon in 2024 would pulverize Shevchenko again in all three sets. It was a close call. Alcaraz, immediately taking his opponent by the throat, led 6-1, 3-1 before experiencing a violent decline which allowed the Kazakh to line up four games in a row.
Djokovic surprised in the first set
The former world number 1, however, quickly recovered. And after reversing the situation (he was trailing 5-3) in this second set, he went it alone again in the third. This was well worth a fourth qualification for the 2nd round in four participations. The Spaniard will face the Japanese Yoshihito Nishioka (65th). Scheduled at the same time, but on the Rod Laver Arena, Novak Djokovic also negotiated his debut in the tournament well. The Serbian, ten times winner of the Australian Open, dropped a set against the very young American Nishesh Basavareddy, who immediately knew how to take his chance against the world number 7 (“he surprised me in a way very pleasant on all his shots”, admitted Djokovic afterwards). But once launched, the “Djoker” left only crumbs (4-6, 6-4, 6-3, 6-2) to the 107th in the world to join the Portuguese qualifier Faria, 125th in the 2nd round. classification.
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