Carlos Alcaraz sent a message to the rest of the men's draw at the Australian Open by thrashing Yoshihito Nishioka.
Alcaraz made a comfortable start to his Australian Open campaign against Alexander Shevchenko in the opening round. The 21-year-old had a brief blip in the second set but was never in any danger during a 6-1, 7-5, 6-1 triumph.
Most of Alcaraz's issues in the second set against Shevchenko were with his serve. After the match, he discussed trying to implement a new technique and admitted it was easier to do during practice than in a match situation.
The ATP world No. 2 might have been relieved to start well after choosing not to play any warmup tournaments before the Australian Open. Jannik Sinner and Daniil Medvedev are other players who decided to use that approach.
Alcaraz will achieve something historic if he wins the Australian Open. It is the only Grand Slam he has yet to secure, and doing it this year would make him the youngest man to achieve the Career Grand Slam.
Competing against Alcaraz was always going to be a tough ask for Nishioka. The Japanese player is not among the most powerful players in men's tennis and relies on his athleticism and ability to redirect his opponent's pace.
Although Alcaraz was a heavy favorite to win the match, fans may have still been surprised by how one-sided the opening set was. Nishioka was never in the contest at any stage and was blown away by his higher-ranked opponent.
Nishioka does not get many free points on his serve, making it especially important that he wins his share in the rallies. However, Alcaraz thrived because of the time he got on his groundstrokes and struck several eye-catching winners in the first set.
Alcaraz did not come close to being broken and put repeated pressure on Nishioka's return games to take the opening set 6-0. The only way was up for the world No. 65 after such a bruising start to the match.
Things only got marginally better for Nishioka, though. He stopped the rot in the fourth game of the set, but that was as good as it got. Alcaraz won it 6-1 to leave himself on the verge of victory after less than an hour on the court.
It would have been easy for Nishioka to become demoralized and stop trying after being obliterated in the opening two sets. To the 29-year-old's credit, he did not throw in the towel, and the third set was the most competitive by far.
Nishioka's rally tolerance, the cornerstone of his game, was much improved, and there were several enjoyable rallies for fans inside the Margaret Court Arena. The Japanese player received much support from a crowd who wanted the match to be extended.
Despite Nishioka's improved level, Alcaraz still got the break he needed in the fifth game and closed out a 6-0, 6-1, 6-4 win. He did not face a single break point during the match, showing clear improvement with his new serving technique.