Carlos Alcaraz is through to the second week of the Australian Open 2024. The Spaniard moved to the Round of 16 after claiming a straightforward victory over 18-year-old Shang Juncheng. Leading the match 6-1, 6-1, 1-0, the young Chinese decided to retire mid-match due to his struggles, granting Alcaraz an easy 1 hour and six minute win at the Rod Laver Arena.
With this win, Alcaraz moves to the last 16 at the Australian Open for the first time. The world number two had little to no success at the first slam of the year before his ongoing run this year. He had a 3-2 win/loss record at the Happy Slam before AO 2024 and had never gone past the third round.
Up next for the 2-time Grand Slam champion is Serbia’s Miomir Kecmanovic. The Serb is on a great run himself, beating 24th seed Jan-Lennard Struff in the second round and 14th seed Tommy Paul in the third round. Not only that, this is Kecmanovic’s second straight time reaching the round of 16 at the Australian Open.
Alcaraz and Kecmanovic have played each other once, and that too on a hard court. The match turned out to be a great three-set battle at the 2022 Miami Masters, which saw the Spaniard win in the match in the third-set tiebreaker.
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