Australian Open: Carlos Alcaraz the servebot, Belinda Bencic’s comeback rolls on

Posted by Admin January 15, 2025 Tennis

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Welcome to the Australian Open briefing, where The Athletic will explain the stories behind the stories on each day of the tournament.

On day four, Carlos Alcaraz put on a clinic, Belinda Bencic continued her comeback, and an ATP player continued a fortunate run of retirements.

How did Carlos Alcaraz put on a clinic?

When all the talk going into a tournament is about a player tweaking their service motion, a serving display like the one Carlos Alcaraz produced on Wednesday against Yoshihito Nishioka feels pretty timely.

In total, Alcaraz produced 14 aces and won 89 percent of first serve points in a thumping 6-0, 6-1, 6-4 win, saying afterwards: “I felt really well today with the serve.” He explained that he had focused on the serve during his practice session on Tuesday and added that against Nishioka, “the throw of the ball was great today.”

Alcaraz was so taken with his serve that he wrote “Am I a serve bot?” on a camera lens after his win, an at least mildly derogatory and definitely apathetic term for a player who is essentially unbreakable because their serve is so good.

This new, ruthlessly efficient version of Alcaraz might take a bit of getting used to and experience a few dips, but he still made sure to include some highlight reel shots during a match that lasted only 81 minutes. There was a whipped forehand winner up the line to secure the first set, and then a gorgeous pair of forehand drop shots, one towards the end of the second set and the other in the early part of the third.

Before this tournament, Alcaraz had won just one of his previous seven Grand Slam matches in straight sets: the 2024 Wimbledon final. He’s won two out of two matches in straight sets in Melbourne, dropping just 12 games in the process.

Efficiency paired with electricity is a frightening proposition.

GO DEEPER

Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner are redrawing the tennis court

Charlie Eccleshare

What next for Belinda Bencic?

In a pre-tournament interview with The Athletic, former world No. 4 and Olympic champion Belinda Bencic spoke about the challenges of returning to tennis after giving birth to her daughter Bella last April.

Bencic was confident about ultimately rediscovering her best level, but she didn’t really know what to expect from her first Grand Slam back. The first stage of her comeback at the back end of 2024 had comprised mainly of low-level tournaments away from the spotlight.

Her first-round draw was not kind, pitting Bencic against the No. 16 seed Jelena Ostapenko. But she navigated the challenge, needing six match points to dig out a straight-sets victory.

Belinda Bencic had to scramble at times during her superb win over Jelena Ostapenko (Darrian Traynor / Getty Images)

On Wednesday, Bencic was at it again, overcoming another second-set wobble to defeat Suzan Lamens of the Netherlands 6-1, 7-6(3) to reach the third round. On her day off between those matches, Bencic went to the aquarium with her daughter, husband and mother, who’s in town to provide some childcare support.

Next up for Bencic is Naomi Osaka, another top player who’s made a return to the tour after giving birth. Bencic spoke in the interview below about how she was inspired to have a family by players such as Osaka, who had done it and then come back to tennis.

GO DEEPER

Belinda Bencic believes in herself, because of the women who came before her

Charlie Eccleshare

How has Jiri Lehecka secured some good fortune?

Tennis players whose opponents quit with an injury always say the same thing: it’s not the way you want to win.

Then again, the money is the same. You get to live to fight another day. You get to rest up. It’s not such a bad gig. Just ask Jiri Lehecka, the No. 24 seed at the Australian Open.

Lehecka keeps showing up to compete. His opponents keep quitting. He won the semifinal and final of Brisbane on mid-match walkovers. He got another one in Melbourne when Hugo Gaston bailed in the second set Wednesday.

Lehecka is going to beat Gaston on a hard court most of the time, but not a lot of people complain about an early finish at work. He will get Benjamin Bonzi in the next round … Or maybe he won’t.

Matt Futterman

Reflections on a short period of madness

There was a little while there when Wednesday had the potential to break the women’s draw.

Zheng Qinwen was on her way to losing to Laura Siegmund. Aryna Sabalenka was having to fight mightily against Jessica Bouzas Maneiro, who went 4-1 up in the second set of their match. Mirra Andreeva was seriously on the ropes, a game away from going out to Moyuka Uchijima.

Zheng, an Olympic gold medalist and a finalist here last year, couldn’t manage the comeback, but Sabalenka figured out how to survive and Andreeva pulled off a miracle comeback that was a near-carbon copy of her third-round win last year. It even happened on the same court, with Andreeva returning to Court 3 after her stolen victory over Diane Parry last year.

“The court is cursed,” Andreeva declared after it was over.

Matt Futterman