In Sunday’s men’s round of 16, world No. 1 Carlos Alcaraz faced Tommy Paul, defeating him in three tight sets. The loss was a harsh reminder for Paul, coming after his full fitness and last year’s French Open setback against the Spaniard. Yet, after the match, Paul candidly admitted how challenging it is to face Alcaraz in his current form, highlighting the intensity and skill of a player firing on all cylinders.

In the post-match press conference at the Australian Open, Tommy Paul reflected on his loss to Carlos Alcaraz. When reminded of his defeat at the French Open last year and his health issues at the time, he admitted, “Definitely don’t have an excuse this time.”

Paul explained how dominant Alcaraz was on court. “He totally outplayed me. The way I would describe it is, he kind of suffocates you in a way. He makes you feel like you have no time. He rushes you.”

He added that his own game was exposed. “Today, he exposed me. I hit my forehand terribly today, and he saw that early. He was trying to get into that forehand-to-forehand rally, and he did it much better than I did.”

Paul described the difficulty of matching Alcaraz’s patterns. “That’s what it felt like; he got all the patterns he wanted, and I was having a tough time getting into the patterns that I wanted.”

At last year’s French Open, Carlos Alcaraz overwhelmed Tommy Paul in the quarterfinals. The Spaniard won 6-0, 6-1, 6-4 against an American who was clearly struggling physically.

Paul’s right thigh was heavily taped. He was unable to run, serve, or hit groundstrokes at full strength. Alcaraz needed just 52 minutes to take the first two sets.

During that stretch, Alcaraz dominated the stats. He built a 23-5 advantage in winners early. By the end of the match, the final count stood at 40-13 in his favor.

Paul later spoke honestly about his condition. “I’ve felt better, you know?” he said. He had leg and abdominal muscle issues throughout the tournament. “Obviously, I went into the match like, ‘I want to win the match.’ But pretty early on in the match, it was pretty obvious that I wasn’t moving amazing.”

This year’s meeting told a different story, but the result remained the same. Paul was fully fit and competitive. Still, he could not capitalize on Alcaraz.

Paul broke early in the first set and stayed close throughout. He served well, took the ball early, and used strong defense to frustrate Alcaraz. The margins were slim for more than an hour.

However, in the key moments, Paul lacked conviction. He handed over the first set with a double fault, only his second of the set. That proved decisive.

Once the opener was secured, Alcaraz settled in. He did not face a break point in the final two sets. He won 7-6 (6), 6-4, 7-5, moved into the last eight, and with his serve now a strength, his Australian Open dream rolls on.

Carlos Alcaraz is pleased to see recent serve changes paying off

Carlos Alcaraz’s victory over Paul marked his 14th Grand Slam quarterfinal. He passed Bjorn Borg and Boris Becker, who both reached 13 before turning 23. It is a new Open Era record.

After the match, Alcaraz spoke openly about recent changes to his serve. He even joked with the Rod Laver Arena crowd about its similarity to Novak Djokovic’s motion.

Alcaraz admitted the improvement has surprised even him. “I’m surprising myself, to be honest. The serve is something I’ve been working on for a long time,” he said.

He explained how closely he tracks his progress. “I’m really happy to see the improvement of the serve and to have a high percentage. After every set, I try to take up my percentage. I look at the screen after every set.”

The numbers backed up his confidence. Alcaraz did not face a single break point in the second and third sets. He finished the match with a 70% first-serve.

That was his second-best serving performance of the tournament. His best came in the third round against Corentin Moutet at 71%. His lowest was still solid at 64% against Yannick Hanfmann in round two.

The Spaniard also stressed its importance. “In general, [in] the four matches I’ve played, the serve has been an important weapon for me.”

Alcaraz has never gone beyond the quarterfinals in Melbourne. He will next face either Alex de Minaur or Alexander Bublik. After this blistering performance, can he finally reach the Australian Open semifinals this year?