Australian Open: Alcaraz cruises past Shevchenko to book spot in second round

Spaniard Carlos Alcaraz, the No 3 seed, reached the second round of the Australian Open by beating Kazakh Alexander Shevchenko 6-1, 7-5, 6-1 at Melbourne Park.

The world No 3 broke eight times in total, cruising through the first set with three breaks of serve. However, after going a set up in the second, he was pegged back and fell behind as Shevchenko showed great fighting spirit to navigate his way to serving for the set.

But back roared Alcaraz, breaking twice either side of two holds to win the last four games and move into a commanding two-set lead.

From that point, there was only to be one winner as the Spaniard broke twice more en route to a comfortable opening win in Melbourne.

Alcaraz, ranked No 3, will play Japanese Yoshihito Nishioka next.

Melbourne (Grand Slam), other first-round results (Melbourne Park, hard, USD 60.627.573, most recent results first):

• Andrey Rublev vs. Joao Fonseca
• Alexei Popyrin vs. Corentin Moutet
• Botic van de Zandschulp vs. Alex De Minaur
• Lorenzo Sonego vs. Stan Wawrinka
• Roberto Bautista Agut vs. Denis Shapovalov
• Pablo Carreno Busta vs. Kamil Majchrzak
• Tristan Boyer vs. Federico Coria
• Tomas Martin Etcheverry vs. Flavio Cobolli
• Marcos Giron vs. Yannick Hanfmann
• Rinky Hijikata vs. Mitchell Krueger
• Matteo Arnaldi vs. Lorenzo Musetti
• Ben Shelton vs. Brandon Nakashima
• Kasidit Samrej vs. Daniil Medvedev
• Francisco Comesana vs. Daniel Altmaier
• Facundo Diaz Acosta vs. Zizou Bergs
• Camilo Ugo Carabelli vs. Learner Tien
• Gael Monfils vs. Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard
• Borna Coric vs. Cristian Garin
• Taylor Fritz vs. Jenson Brooksby
• Francisco Cerundolo vs. Alexander Bublik
• Hubert Hurkacz vs. Tallon Griekspoor
• Zhizhen Zhang vs. Holger Rune
• Adrian Mannarino vs. Karen Khachanov
• Gabriel Diallo vs. Luca Nardi
• Matteo Berrettini vs. Cameron Norrie
• Miomir Kecmanovic vs. Dusan Lajovic
• Christopher O’Connell vs. Tommy Paul: monday
• Francesco Passaro (LL) beat Grigor Dimitrov (10): 7-5, 2-1 ret.
• David Goffin vs. Benjamin Bonzi: monday
• Jacob Fearnley vs. Nick Kyrgios: monday
• Novak Djokovic vs. Nishesh Basavareddy: monday
• Alejandro Davidovich Fokina beat Juncheng Shang: 7-6 (1), 5-2 ret.
• Felix Auger-Aliassime (29) beat Jan-Lennard Struff: 6-3, 6-0, 4-6, 6-1
• Jaime Faria (Q) beat Pavel Kotov: 6-1, 6-1, 7-5
• Sebastian Korda (22) beat Lukas Klein (Q): 6-3, 0-6, 6-3, 7-6 (6)
• Yoshihito Nishioka beat Aziz Dougaz (Q): 3-6, 6-4, 7-6 (3), 6-3
• Arthur Cazaux beat Sebastian Baez (28): 6-3, 5-7, 3-6, 6-0, 6-3
• Thanasi Kokkinakis beat Roman Safiullin: 3-6, 6-3, 6-3, 7-6 (5)
• Jack Draper (15) beat Mariano Navone: 4-6, 6-3, 3-6, 6-3, 6-2
• Aleksandar Vukic beat Damir Dzumhur: 6-7 (3), 6-0, 3-6, 6-3, 6-4
• Tristan Schoolkate (WC) beat Taro Daniel: 6-7 (6), 7-6 (4), 6-1, 6-4
• Jordan Thompson (27) beat Dominik Koepfer (Q): 7-6 (3), 6-4, 4-6, 6-3
• Jannik Sinner (1) beat Nicolas Jarry: 7-6 (2), 7-6 (5), 6-1
• James McCabe (WC) beat Martin Landaluce (Q): 6-4, 6-3, 6-4
• James Duckworth beat Dominic Stricker: 6-2, 6-4, 6-2
• Fabian Marozsan beat Thiago Seyboth Wild: 6-3, 6-7 (5), 7-5, 5-7, 7-5
• Nuno Borges beat Alexandre Muller: 6-7 (2), 6-3, 6-2, 7-5
• Roberto Carballes Baena beat Alejandro Tabilo (23): 1-6, 6-2, 6-3, 7-6 (1)
• Jakub Mensik beat Nikoloz Basilashvili (Q): 6-1, 6-7 (3), 6-3, 6-3
• Frances Tiafoe (17) beat Arthur Rinderknech: 7-6 (2), 6-3, 4-6, 6-7 (4), 6-3
• Alex Michelsen beat Stefanos Tsitsipas (11): 7-5, 6-3, 2-6, 6-4
• Alexander Zverev (2) beat Lucas Pouille (WC): 6-4, 6-4, 6-4
• Quentin Halys beat Adam Walton: 4-6, 4-6, 6-4, 7-6 (4), 7-5
• Reilly Opelka beat Gauthier Onclin (Q): 3-6, 7-6 (4), 6-3, 6-2
• Ugo Humbert (14) beat Matteo Gigante (Q): 7-6 (5), 7-5, 6-4
• Pedro Martinez Portero beat Luciano Darderi: 6-3, 4-1 ret.
• Tomas Machac (26) beat Sumit Nagal: 6-3, 6-1, 7-5
• Jiri Lehecka (24) beat Li Tu (WC): 6-1, 3-6, 6-3, 7-6 (1)
• Hady Habib (Q) beat Yunchaokete Bu: 7-6 (4), 6-4, 7-6 (6)
• Casper Ruud (6) beat Jaume Munar: 6-3, 1-6, 7-5, 2-6, 6-1
• Kei Nishikori beat Thiago Monteiro (Q): 4-6, 6-7 (4), 7-5, 6-2, 6-3
• Arthur Fils (20) beat Otto Virtanen: 3-6, 7-6 (4), 6-4, 6-4
• Hugo Gaston beat Omar Jasika (WC): 6-2, 3-6, 6-2, 6-2