Novak Djokovic, Carlos Alcaraz to Australian Open 3rd round

Novak Djokovic added another record to his long list on Wednesday at the Australian Open, while Carlos Alcaraz also marched on.

Djokovic passed Roger Federer for most major singles matches played in the Open era by reaching 430 in a tougher-than-expected second-round victory.

Djokovic improved to 379-51 for his career at major tournaments, an .881 winning percentage, by defeating 21-year-old Portuguese qualifier Jaime Faria 6-1, 6-7 (4), 6-3, 6-2 in a game briefly interrupted by light rain before Rod Laver Arena’s retractable roof was closed.

“The Grand Slams, of course, they are the pillars of our sport. They mean everything to the history of the sport… Definitely the most important tournaments,” Djokovic said. “I’m just blessed to make another record today.”

Djokovic has won the most Grand Slam singles titles of any man, 24, ahead of Rafael Nadal’s 22 and Federer’s 20. The 37-year-old Serbian has spent several weeks at no. 1 in the rankings than any other player. He has played in 37 Slam finals, six more than Federer’s old record. And more could wait.

A title at the end of the 15 days at Melbourne Park would be his 25th at a major, a number never achieved by any man or woman. It would also be his 11th at the Australian Open, matching Margaret Court for the most. That would make him the oldest man in the Open era – which began in 1968 – to collect a Grand Slam singles trophy (Ken Rosewall was about six months younger when he won the Australian Open in 1972). And it would be Djokovic’s 100th tour-level tournament title, a nice round number behind only Jimmy Connors’ 109 and Federer’s 103 in the men’s Open era.

Not everything has gone perfectly this week in Australia for Djokovic in his first tournament working with former on-court rival Andy Murray as a coach. Both of Djokovic’s matches so far came against a young player making his Grand Slam debut. And both times he was pushed to four sets.

In the first round, it was against Nishesh Basavareddy, a 19-year-old American who only turned pro last month and is ranked No. 107. In the second, it was Faria, who is ranked No. 125, which gave him a bit of a hard time, especially during a four-game run in the second set.

“He played lights-out tennis … I had to weather the storm,” Djokovic said. “I think I responded very well in the third and especially the fourth (set).”

Meanwhile, no. No. 3 seed Carlos Alcaraz cruised past Yoshihito Nishioka 6-0, 6-1, 6-4 in 81 minutes to reach the third round.

Alcaraz, winner of last year’s French Open and Wimbledon, got off to a blistering start and never looked back, winning the first nine games before Nishioka could even get on the board.

It marked the shortest completed men’s match at this year’s tournament by 15 minutes.

“The less time you spend on the court in Grand Slams, especially at the beginning of the tournament, the better it will be, especially physically,” Alcaraz said. “I’m just trying to be focused on spending as little time as possible (on the pitch).”

Alcaraz worked on making his serve more potent in the offseason and was thrilled with how it held up against Nishioka. He hit 14 aces and three double faults without giving Nishioka a single break point chance.

“I’m really happy with the serve today, it’s something I’ve been working on,” he said. “I wasn’t too happy with the serve in the first round.”

He won 32 of 36 first serve points (89%), his highest percentage of first serve points won in any major match of his career.

Alcaraz will play Nuno Borges – who knocked out Australian 27th seed Jordan Thompson 6-3, 6-2, 6-4 – for a place in the fourth round at Melbourne Park, where he reached the quarter-finals last year, his best finish at the major.

Winning the title would make him the youngest man to complete the career Slam, having won Wimbledon (twice), the French Open and the US Open.

Eight players have reached the milestone.

“That’s one of the reasons I really want to win this tournament one day, just to put my name on the short list,” he said. “Hopefully it will be this year.”

Seeded losers included no. 6 Casper Ruud, a three-time major finalist; no. 22 Sebastian Korda and no. 27 Jordan Thompson.

Ruud was eliminated by 19-year-old Jakub Mensik of the Czech Republic 6-2, 3-6, 6-1, 6-4. Mensik equaled his best Grand Slam showing by reaching the third round, joining 18-year-old Joao Fonseca – who upset no. 9 Andrey Rublev on Tuesday – as the first pair of teenagers to beat top-10 men at the same time. Grand Slam tournament since Djokovic and Murray did it at Wimbledon in 2006.

ESPN Research, The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.