In his last showdown before the Australian Open, Carlos Alcaraz defeated Casper Ruud 6-4, 6-2 in the Kooyong Classic exhibition, held on the Rod Laver Arena central court in an hour and 29 minutes. It was a remarkable triumph for Alcaraz, who found himself 4-2, 40-0 down in the score, but he stepped on the gas, winning 10 of the last 12 games to claim the victory.
Although Alcaraz didn’t have the best start to the match, he dominated in backhand exchanges and capitalized on some of Ruud’s service issues. However, as an exhibition match, neither of the two took too many physical risks, and in the end, ‘Carlitos’ secured the victory, leaving good impressions for his participation in the Aussie Open.
World No. 2 didn’t play official matches before his debut in Melbourne and utilized the exhibitions to find his rhythm just two days before facing the Frenchman Richard Gasquet (No. 131).
With the main draw draw defined, Alcaraz leads the bottom half of the draw and will play on the third day of competition. He will have to wait for the first two days to determine the section of the bracket led by Novak Djokovic before commencing his participation.
With Djokovic defending a significant number of points, Alcaraz has an opportunity to reclaim the No. 1 spot in Australia. Although Djokovic currently leads by 2,200 points, when factoring in the points he defends in Melbourne, the gap narrows to just 200 points. This means that Alcaraz could become No. 1 if he wins the tournament or advances further than Djokovic
Previous performances in Melbourne
Until now, Alcaraz hasn’t achieved notable results at the Australian Open, although his circumstances in previous editions were very different from his current status. In 2021, he reached the second round in his first Grand Slam main draw, and in 2022, he made it to the third round in Melbourne, accumulating…
However, in 2023, he suffered from an injury that kept him out in the latter part of 2022 and the beginning of 2023, precisely when he held the world No. 1 ranking and was the most recent Grand Slam champion, winning the US Open trophy.