{"id":244808,"date":"2026-01-18T13:37:11","date_gmt":"2026-01-18T13:37:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/244808\/"},"modified":"2026-01-18T13:37:11","modified_gmt":"2026-01-18T13:37:11","slug":"carlos-alcaraz-makes-winning-start-in-career-grand-slam-bid-at-australian-open-atp-tour","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/244808\/","title":{"rendered":"Carlos Alcaraz makes winning start in Career Grand Slam bid at Australian Open | ATP Tour"},"content":{"rendered":"

ATP Tour
\n Alcaraz makes winning start in Career Grand Slam bid at Australian Open<\/p>\n

Seeds Bublik, Cerundolo, Norrie & Tiafoe win, Zheng upsets Korda<\/p>\n

January 18, 2026<\/p>\n

\"Carlos<\/p>\n

Peter Staples <\/p>\n

Carlos Alcaraz begins his quest to complete the career Grand Slam at the Australian Open with a straight-sets win Sunday night.
\n By Sam Jacot<\/p>\n

Carlos Alcaraz<\/a> made a winning start in his quest to complete the Career Grand Slam at this year\u2019s Australian Open<\/a>, where he overcame a resilient performance from Australian Adam Walton<\/a> to reach the second round in Melbourne.<\/p>\n

Competing for the first time in the post-Juan Carlos Ferrero<\/a> era, the World No. 1 moved past Walton 6-3, 7-6(2), 6-2 in the night session on Rod Laver<\/a> Arena.<\/p>\n

Alcaraz, who ended his seven-year relationship with former coach Ferrero in December, is aiming to become just the sixth man \u2013 and youngest \u2013 in the Open Era to win all four major titles at least once. The Spaniard was not at his free-flowing best against Walton but found enough consistency when needed to shake off the World No. 79 in the pair\u2019s second Lexus ATP Head2Head meeting (2-0 Alcaraz).<\/p>\n

\u201cI am really happy to step onto the court once again for the first time this season. It could not have been better, playing here on the Rod Laver<\/a> Arena,\u201d Alcaraz said. \u201cIt was a good match. I felt great and Adam pulled off some great shots, a great level in the match, so I had to stay there at this kind of level.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\u201cATP\"\/<\/a><\/p>\n

Alcaraz struck 38 winners and showed his fighting qualities in the second set, rallying from 1-3 to stamp further authority on the clash. Walton was trying to advance to the second round of his home Slam for the first time and gave a good account of himself throughout the two-hour, 13-minute clash, troubling Alcaraz at times with his deep groundstrokes. However, he could not match the Spaniard in the key moments.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was really, really difficult to find the good spots,” Alcaraz added. “It felt he was always in a good position. Long rallies. He was solid from the baseline and his flat ball was sometimes really difficult for me. Getting used to the conditions and the court, but it was a really solid match.\u201d<\/p>\n

Alcaraz, led by coach Samuel Lopez<\/a>, is chasing his seventh major this fortnight. The Spaniard is a two-time champion at Roland Garros<\/a> (2024, ’25), Wimbledon<\/a> (2023, ’24) and the US Open<\/a> (2022, ’25). The 22-year-old will next meet Yannick Hanfmann<\/a> after the German beat American qualifier Zachary Svajda<\/a> 7-5, 4-6, 6-4, 7-6(3).<\/p>\n

\"The<\/a><\/p>\n

In other action, the No. 10 player in the PIF ATP Rankings Alexander Bublik<\/a> earned his first win at the Australian Open<\/a> since 2022. Competing as a Top 10 player for the first time, the 28-year-old overcame Jenson Brooksby<\/a> 6-4, 6-4, 6-4 to set a second-round clash with Marton Fucsovics<\/a>.<\/p>\n

American qualifier Michael Zheng<\/a> earned a dream win on his tour-level debut, upsetting Sebastian Korda<\/a> 6-4, 6-4, 3-6, 6-7(0), 6-3. The 21-year-old Zheng, who will next play Corentin Moutet<\/a>, is currently studying at Columbia University in New York, where he is a senior. Learn more about the reigning NCAA men\u2019s singles champion here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

There were also wins for seeds Cameron Norrie<\/a>, Francisco Cerundolo<\/a> and Frances Tiafoe<\/a> on Day 1. British lefty Norrie defeated Benjamin Bonzi<\/a> 6-0, 6-7(2), 4-6, 6-3, 6-4 and has now won his past three matches that have gone to five sets, according to Infosys ATP Stats. The 18th seed Cerundolo downed Zhang Zhizhen<\/a> 6-3, 7-6(0), 6-3, while Tiafoe defeated Australian Jason Kubler<\/a> 7-6(4), 6-3, 6-2.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"ATP Tour Alcaraz makes winning start in Career Grand Slam bid at Australian Open Seeds Bublik, Cerundolo, Norrie…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":244809,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[85,46,105],"class_list":{"0":"post-244808","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-sports","8":"tag-il","9":"tag-israel","10":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/244808","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=244808"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/244808\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/244809"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=244808"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=244808"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=244808"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}