Carlos Alcaraz has admitted he is not satisfied with his recent results at the Australian Open after progressing to the second round.
The Spaniard is looking to achieve the career Grand Slam at the Australian Open after winning Roland Garros, Wimbledon and the US Open at least once each.
It’s a bid that got off to the best possible start after a 6-3 7-6 6-2 win over Adam Walton in what was a tough first two sets.
Walton was inspired and motivated as he pushed Alcaraz to his limits in the first two sets, playing some proactive and aggressive tennis.
However, Alcaraz produced some clutch tennis in the eighth game of the first set before producing a dominant second set tiebreak to take a two set lead.
The world number one then cruised through the third set to secure a straight sets win in his opening round match.
After the contest Alcaraz admitted he is relieved to get through the match and is demanding better results at the Australian Open, “Well, it was I would say a difficult match for me. In the first set, just one break. Just missed two first serves. I think he was playing really good, really solid,” Alcaraz explained.
“I think he was trying to find the position to attack every time he can. Then the second set I think he found more spots to be aggressive. I’m playing a good tennis. Just lost the focus a little bit in that game with my serve. It was then more complicated for me. Overall just happy. To be honest, I was ready for a good battle. At the same time a little bit unexpected for me the level he played.
“I had to manage myself to be ready for that battle. Just happy with the level of the first match of the season. Well, yeah, for me I would say tricky not have gone farther than quarterfinals here in Australia because I feel like I’m playing a good tennis here in Australia. The last two years I’ve been playing a really good tennis. But in quarterfinal I just lost against Zverev and lost against Djokovic.
“It’s I think unusual players you play against in quarterfinal if you are 1 or 2 in the world. But it isn’t an excuses. I just really want to perform better than I did previous years. So I just feeling this year probably it is one of those years that I will be able to or I will have the chance to go further.”
As Alcaraz cited, Alcaraz lost to Novak Djokovic in last year’s quarter-finals and will be looking to go deeper this year.
In the second round, Alcaraz will face Yannick Hanfmann.
