Carlos Alcaraz had somewhat of a slow start against Richard Gasquet at the 2024 Australian Open, but the Spaniard was able to win in straight sets anyway.
Gasquet is one of those perpetually tricky players who just somehow find a way to frustrate opponents in a tennis match. Alcaraz certainly felt it in this match because the French veteran took him to a tie-break in the first set.
Gasquet ultimately couldn't do too much, but he played a pretty decent opening set. He was even in the lead for a brief moment as Alcaraz struggled to really find consistency.
The fact that Alcaraz didn't play any warm-up events didn't hurt him here because he figured things out as the match went on. He had plenty of chances in the first set, nine break points in total, but he just couldn't get over the line when he needed to.
Despite trailing 3-4 in the tie-break with his opponent having two balls in his hand, Alcaraz mounted a comeback, winning it 7-5. He would then beat Gasquet in the second set after things finally clicked for him, and he used his chances instead of wasting them.
6-1 was the score in the second set as Gasquet failed to match the energy of Alcaraz. The more the match went on, the slower Gasquet looked, as he simply couldn't match the young Spaniard
The Spanish player was too good and too strong from the baseline. Quite often, he'd send a ball so fast that Gasquet's shot didn't even make it to the net.
The final set didn't bring anything different as Alcaraz continued to bombard from the baseline, which Gasquet couldn't match. An early break became a double break, and from there, it was pretty easy to finish off the match.
The final score was 7-6(5), 6-1, 6-2 for Alcaraz, who looks every bit like a possible champion here. We'll see how it looks in the next rounds.
Carlos Alcaraz vs Richard Gasquet Match Stats:
| Carlos Alcaraz | Richard Gasquet | |
| 9 | Aces | 3 |
| 3 | Double Faults | 3 |
| 66% | First Serve % | 74% |
| 73% (45/62) | Points Won After First Serve % | 59% (51/86) |
| 66% (21/32) | Points Won After Second Serve % | 35% (11/31) |
| 25% (4/16) | Break Point Conversion | 0% (0/2) |
| 52 | Winners | 19 |
| 26 | Unforced Errors | 28 |
0 Comments