Carlos Alcaraz got a bit lucky with his most recent match at the Australian Open as it was more of a practice match than anything else.
Alcaraz was facing Jungcheng Shang and as many predicted it wasn't a very complicated match. The Spaniard overcame the Chinese player with physicality employing his tremendous power from the baseline to finish points whenever he got the chance.
Shang also dealt with some physical issues retiring from the match in the third set, which could be significant for Alcaraz as he really didn't spend too much time on the court.
He was on the court for about an hour and that's a good practice for him; just enough to keep himself in form but not enough to make him fatigued.
As his rivals rack up playing time that could prove significant, and that will be the case in the upcoming round. He spoke a bit about that after the match though he was obviously saddened by the way he advanced.
Well, yeah, nobody wants to move on like this, but obviously in a Grand Slam if you want to do good results, these kind of matches, it's less hours that you are on court is better to your body, to everything, to recover into the next match.
It will certainly be a factor in the match against Miomir Kecmanovic, as he spent four hours on the court in his most recent win, which is considerably more than Alcaraz.
That might make the match even less demanding and it may just snowball from there. He may then gain physical advantage over the rest of his opponents too, but first, the Spaniard will need to overcome Kecmanovic, who he previously bested in 2022.
"I know that Kecmanovic had a few games to five sets, so I think it's going to be better for me coming into the match. But I remember that match in 2022 in Miami. He played an unbelievable game. Myself as well."
"I think it's going to be the same war. He has beaten big guys here in this tournament, so I have to be prepared to do war again. Hopefully to take in three sets, but no, nobody knows. I play my best level if I want to move on, so let's see how it's going to be."
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