Serving it up, Carlos Alcaraz advances to the Australian Open quarterfinals

MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) — No sooner had Carlos Alcaraz advanced to the Australian Open quarterfinals with a win over Tommy Paul, than attention turned to his serve.

The top-ranked Alcaraz, in Australia trying to complete a career Grand Slam at the age of 22, has been remodeling it a little bit.

It worked well for him on Sunday in a 7-6 (6), 6-4, 7-5 win over No. 19-seeded Paul. There were no double-faults, he got 70% of his first serves into play and won 79% of those points. He also won 68% of points on his second serve.

The retooled start of his service motion has a familiar look, and hasn’t escaped the attention of Novak Djokovic. The 24-time major winner joked earlier in the tournament that he’d sent Alcaraz a message asking for a copyright fee.

Alcaraz was asked about it in an on-court TV interview on Rod Laver Arena, and played along, too.

“Yeah. I heard that. I have the contract over there but I haven’t seen him yet!” the Spaniard said of his exchange with Djokovic.

Expanding on the theme, he said when videos of the service motion emerged in the pre-season he checked on his phone and had a message from Djokovic which, more-or-less said: “Alright, you have to pay!”

Alcaraz said the locker room jokes keep it fun. Seeking an unprecedented 25th Grand Slam title, Djokovic has been blocked in the last two years by Alacaraz and Jannik Sinner, who have split the eight titles evenly.

One missing element on Alcaraz’s tennis CV is a trophy at Melbourne Park. He has never gone past the quarterfinals. He’ll face either local favorite Alex de Minaur or No. 10 Alexander Bublik in the last eight this coming week.

Medical break

Paul reached the Australian Open semifinals in 2023, so had that in his favor going into the fourth-round match with Alcaraz.

The pair were going shot for shot in the first-set tiebreaker when a medical episode paused their match for more than 14 minutes.

It was 3-3 when chair umpire Marija Cicak informed them that a spectator at Rod Laver Arena needed urgent medical attention.

The delay lasted so long that the players got to hit up again for a couple of minutes before play resumed, and after the spectator had been helped away from the arena by medical and ambulance staff.

Alcaraz was always in front after that. He broke serve in the pivotal 10th game of the third set and finished off the match in 2 hours and 44 minutes.

The pair hugged at the net, Alcaraz did a little dance move on the court to entertain the crowd, and then applauded the 28-year-old American as he walked off the court.

“Overall, a really high level of tennis from both sides,” Alcaraz said. “Really happy I got it in straight sets.”

Alcaraz said he was aware of his service stats and, in a kind of humble brag, added “Yeah, it’s impressing myself to be honest” across his first four matches at Melbourne Park.

“After every set I try to check it out – checking on the screens,” he said. “In general, I think the four matches that I’ve played (here) the serve has been an important weapon for me.”

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