Carlos Alcaraz has been knocked out of the Australian Open 2024. The second seed was riding high after his incredible performance against Miomir Kecmanovic. However, when he took court on January 24 at the Rod Laver Arena, he was humbled by sixth seed Alexander Zverev.
Having already played two five-setters and one four-setter before his quarterfinal against Carlos Alcaraz, no one was giving Zverev a chance. With claims of a no-show by a fatigued Zverev, the tall German swept Alcaraz 6-1, 6-3, 6-7(2), 6-4 in just 3 hours and 6 minutes.
In what looked like an easy straight-set win, Zverev suffered a drop in his level and lost the third set in the tiebreaker. The sixth seed didn’t let that lose his focus despite losing the third set. He roared back in the fourth set and broke Carlos Alcaraz in the first game, only to be broken back.
In the process of beating the reigning Wimbledon champion, Zverev also earned his first-ever Top-5 win at Grand Slams. Before the match, the German was 0-10 against the top 5 opponents. However, if he wants to win the Australian Open title, he’ll need to beat Daniil Medvedev in the semifinals and face either Novak Djokovic or Jannik Sinner in the final.
Carlos Alcaraz’s poor show at the Australian Open
This shocking loss means that Carlos Alcaraz will not clinch the World No. 1 title, as Novak Djokovic will continue his top-spot dominance.
Although he improved his record from 3-2 to 7-3, the Australia Open remains the only slam where Carlos Alcaraz has yet to make a semifinal. His win percentage at the slam (70) is only his lowest of all the four slams.
