Alcaraz’s latest win is of huge significance, with the Spanish star having just surpassed his compatriot Rafael Nadal for the best win rate of any player against seeded opponents at Grand Slam matches.
That is according to OptaAce for players with a minimum of 10 matches in the Open Era, with Alcaraz’s 80.4% now above Nadal’s 80.1%.
The former will have already been eyeing a key record of the latter in Melbourne, with Nadal currently the youngest career Grand Slam winner at 24.
Given his dominance on the ATP Tour in recent times, it has come as little surprise to many, although the world number one has been surprising himself.
Discussing his first serve success, he said on-court after beating Paul: “Yeah, I’m surprising myself to be honest. The serve is something that I’ve been working on a long time ago.
“So for me, I’m just really happy to see the improvement of the serve, to have a high percentage of the serve. After every set, just trying to take it up, my percentage serve.
It’s a weapon that he will hope to continue to exploit as the tournament progresses, where his level of opponent should also rise.
The top seed could face Alexander Zverev in the semifinals, and potentially either Novak Djokovic or Jannik Sinner in the final.
He will, however, gain a huge confidence boost from surpassing tennis legend Nadal, who won two Australian Open titles and 20 Grand Slam titles overal