Coming up tomorrow, in the remaining fourth-round matches, the action starts on Rod Laver with the battle of the friends and podcast hosts, Jessica Pegula v Madison Keys, and then it’s Taylor Fritz v Lorenzo Musetti. On Margaret Court, Elena Rybakina plays Elise Mertens and Jannik Sinner meets his fellow Italian Luciano Darderi. In the Rod Laver evening session it’ll be the biggest night of the Australian qualifier Madison Inglis’s life as she takes on Iga Swiatek, before Ben Shelton v Casper Ruud. Novak Djokovic gets a walkover after his opponent Jakub Mensik withdraw today because of injury. Do join us again for live coverage, reports and reaction, but that’s it from me on day eight. Thanks for your company as always. Bye!
Updated
Tumaini’s report on Alcaraz’s victory and the evolution of his serve is an interesting read:
Carlos Alcaraz spent the final 52 minutes of his fourth-round match at the Australian Open chasing down his prey, determined to convert his two-set lead into a straightforward win against Tommy Paul.
As he worked hard to secure the decisive break in set three, Alcaraz put together a flawless serving performance. He won 86% of his first serve points in the set, landing 76% of his first serves. He did not even come close to facing a break point, losing just five service points in total. Alcaraz, the world No 1, closed out his 7-6 (6), 6-4, 7-5 win over the 19th seed Paul with an unreturned serve.
These were good signs for the world No 1 in the aftermath of another off-season that, beyond the seismic news of his decision to part ways with his longtime coach Juan Carlos Ferrero, saw him make another significant change to his service motion.
Alcaraz’s serve has understandably been a significant point of interest since his emergence on the professional circuit. The 22-year-old has commanded such a complete game since his youth, but his serve, the point-starter and the most important shot in men’s tennis, always lagged behind the rest of his shots.
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