So what was it that worked so well this time around, Jim Courier asked Alcaraz, recalling the dramatic three-set tussle between the pair at the Miami Open almost two years ago? “Well, I think everything,” replied Alcaraz without missing a beat. It was hard to disagree.

Having laboured towards the end of last season, Alcaraz is slowly rediscovering the joy that invariably accompanies his best tennis. He has dropped just one set so far, against Italy’s Lorenzo Sonego in round two, and here his signature blend of outrageous athleticism, thunderous baseline play and silken touch proved irresistible. 

In his finest performance so far at Melbourne Park, Alcaraz ran Kecmanovic ragged, his 43 winners conjured from every corner of the court as he completed a personal grand slam of major quarter-finals. In the open era, only Boris Becker, Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic have reached the last eight of all four blue-riband events at a younger age. The impression is of a man on a similar path to the one he trod last year at Wimbledon, where he became more comfortable with the surface and surroundings with each passing round. We all know how that one ended.

“I didn’t play so much here in Rod Laver, I didn’t play so much as well [on Wimbledon’s Centre Court],” said Alcaraz. “Probably the process could be the same or similar.

“Every match that I’m playing, I’m feeling better and better on a court I didn’t play [on] so much. Hopefully the same as Wimbledon.”

High on confidence but lower on energy after recovering from match point down to win in five sets in both of his two previous matches, Kecmanovic was run ragged by the Spaniard, who broke in the third game with a fortuitous net cord and never looked back. If Alcaraz was grateful to his opponent for removing Tommy Paul from his path – the 14th-seeded American, a semi-finalist last year, has won two of their four previous meetings – he had a funny way of showing it. 

“I pushed him to the limit in every ball, in every point,” said Alcaraz. “Obviously, he has played a lot of matches in five sets, a lot of tough matches before this one. Probably, physically, he wasn’t at his 100%. In every ball, I pushed him to the limit and moved him side to side. I could take my chances in every set, and I think it was a pretty good match for myself.”

The Spaniard did not face a break point throughout, and even the faintest glimmers of hope for Kecmanovic was ruthlessly and summarily snuffed out. A case in point came early in the second set, when the Serb gained a rare foothold in an Alcaraz service game only to send a makable return long. Moments later, Alcaraz thumped a ferocious off-forehand to hold. When he went on to secure a break in the seventh game, punctuating a 22-stroke rally with a searing cross-court backhand, the contest was over in all but name.

Alcaraz will face Alexander Zverev in the quarter-finals after the German sixth seed prevailed 7-5, 3-6, 6-3, 4-6, 7-6 (10-3) against Britain’s Cameron Norrie. Zverev, a semi-finalist at Melbourne Park in 2020, has won four of his seven meetings with the Spaniard, most recently in the group stage of the ATP Finals last November. Alcaraz, meanwhile, claimed a straight-sets victory when the pair met in the quarter-finals at Flushing Meadows last year, two days after Zverev had outlasted Jannik Sinner in a punishing five-set marathon.  

“I’m not like [I was at] the US Open, where I was completely dead and where I felt physically exhausted,” said Zverev, who also pushed to a final-set tiebreak by the Slovakian qualifier Lukas Klein in round two. 

“I’m tired, for sure, because I played 7-6 in the fifth set again two times out of the last three matches, but I’m not dead. I’m not completely exhausted. I’m not in the same physical state I was in the US Open. I expect it to be very different, to be honest.”

In the other quarter-final in the lower half of the draw, Daniil Medvedev will face Hubert Hurkacz. The Russian third seed saw off Portugal’s Nuno Borges 6-3, 7-6 (7-4), 5-7, 6-1.

“It’s tough to return his serve,” said Medvedev of Hurkacz, who ran out a 7-6 (8-6), 7-6 (7-3), 6-4 over Arthur Cazaux of France. “That’s going to be the key. I need to stay strong on my serve, don’t give him the break, either try to break him or go to the tiebreak and try to win the tiebreak.”

The post Alcaraz takes flight to make last eight at Australian Open appeared first on Love Game Tennis.

As Nadal explained, he is not one for looking back – not even at the 21st grand slam title that left him out on his own as the most successful man ever to pick up a racket. All he had thought about, he said, was recovering so that he could start his delayed preparations for Roland Garros, where he will bid for number 22.

That mentality, always looking forward to the next challenge, never resting on his laurels, has been a pillar of the Spaniard’s success. Even at 35, his competitive appetite remains insatiable. Which is probably just as well given that, in Serbia’s Miomir Kecmanovic, his first opponent in Madrid, he was handed what has been one of the tour’s tougher assignments of late.   

Not too many players have won more matches than Nadal since the turn of the year. Kecmanovic, with 23 victories, is one of them. Ranked 77th before the Australian Open, where he reached the last 16, the 22-year-old has been on a tear ever since, reaching five straight quarter-finals before making the last four in Munich to climb to a career high of No 32. Nadal was always going to have his work cut out, and while he swept through the opening set as though he had never been away, he met with sterner resistance in the second, twice failing to consolidate breaks before sealing a 6-1, 7-6 (7-4) win.

“I leave the match very, very happy,” said Nadal after coming through in an hour and 50 minutes. “You have to be sincere with yourself whenever you can. You have to be truthful to yourself. My preparation has not existed. You cannot expect great things at the beginning, because before coming here I had trained very, very little. I had just like trained like one day, and all trainings have had some up-and-downs. 

“It’s been a roller coaster. I have had better days, worse days. It’s logical. I think that yesterday I start to feel a little bit better, and today also in the pre warm-up I was feeling well. I think that in general I have done a good match. First set was very good. The second set, I don’t consider it a bad set, but when you have been a long time without competing, it’s normal that you have up and downs in a match, because you have to recover your routine.”

Practice or no practice, it quickly became clear that inactivity has done nothing to blunt the potency of Nadal’s clay-court game. Kecmanovic found the ball whistling up around his ears from the opening point, and while he soon settled into a rhythm from the baseline, the flatter trajectory of his shots producing some entertaining rallies, the Serb offered little by way of threat. Not so Nadal, who moved smoothly through the gears, creating the platform for a first break with a knifed crosscourt backhand, and sealing the deal with a characteristically assured overhead. 

The dilemma facing Kecmanovic was clear. When he stayed back, he was either outmanoeuvred or outhit. When he came forward, as he did frequently, he was either passed or confronted by an ankle-high ball loaded with topspin. Some deft touches from Nadal in the forecourt did little to help the Serb’s cause. Respite eventually came early in the second set, when a sudden downpour forced a break in the proceedings while the roof was closed. The delay enabled Kecmanovic’s coach, the former Wimbledon finalist David Nalbandian, to impart some impassioned advice behind the scenes. Despite a slow start to their partnership, which began early last year, Kecmanovic has credited Nalbandian with revitalising his point construction and shot-making, and the Serb returned with renewed resolve and a fresh tactical approach, taking the pace off his first serve and intensifying his assault on Nadal’s backhand. 

It looked like it would be to no avail when Nadal smoked a forehand winner to move a break ahead. But a loose service game from the Spaniard, combined with some bolder hitting from Kecmanovic, saw the advantage immediately cancelled out, and from there the complexion of the contest altered. Errors began to creep into Nadal’s play. Kecmanovic manufactured a gritty hold, saving a break point. A love service game, clinched with a beautifully controlled lob, later left Nadal serving to stay in the set, and a decider began to look a real possibility.

Nadal, however, responded with a strong hold, bookended by aces, and broke in the next game behind some penetrating returns to lead 6-5. Just when it looked over, however, mistakes again proved costly for the five-time champion, and there were some nervy moments before Nadal finally sealed victory with his third ace.

“It was a very tough first round,” said Nadal, the third seed, who will now face the Belgian qualifier David Goffin, a former world No 7, for a place in the quarter-finals. 

“I think I managed it very well. I played at a good level, so very pleased with the victory. I just try to stay humble, to know things [are] not going to be perfect here and just move forward with the right determination, to accept that I need to fight. I need to stay positive, I need to play with the right attitude, and take every single match that I’m able to win like a present to play another time here.”

And so life continues. To his opponents, Nadal’s continued presence in the draw will feel like the most unwanted of gifts. 

The post Nadal makes a winning return in Madrid appeared first on Love Game Tennis.