Serving Notice: Alcaraz Tops Paul and Credits Djokovic for Third Straight AO Quarterfinal

By Richard Pagliaro | Sunday, January 25, 2026
Photo credit: Jon Buckle/ROLEX

In his rise to the top of the world rankings, Carlos Alcaraz deploys dangerous balance.

Booming deep drives off both wings, Alcaraz is an equal opportunity obliterator.

Today, Alcaraz hit stinging serves and declarative drives defeating Tommy Paul 7-6(6), 6-4, 7-5 to charge into his third consecutive Australian Open quarterfinal.

Continuing his quest to become the youngest man to complete the career Grand Slam, the 22-year-old Spaniard will play either sixth-seeded Aussie Alex de Minaur or 10th-seeded Kazakh Alexander Bublik for a semifinal spot.

“I’m gonna watch the match trying to take some tactic things, both players are incredible,” Alcaraz told Hall of Famer Jim Courier afterward. “Sasha Bublik is an incredible player. I think that his tennis is a little bit uncomfortable for the opponent.

“I think Alex, obviously playing with the home crowd, is really comfortable here. Obviously I have to be focused on my own tennis. I understand, I’m not gonna take it personal, but the crowd is going to be for him. I’m really excited to play the quarterfinal here for the third time in a row. So I’m looking forward to that.”

The 19th-seeded Paul broke Alcaraz in the opening game and jumped out to a 2-0 lead. 

Alcaraz didn’t drop serve the rest of the match.

Setting the tone with commanding serving, Alcaraz served 70 percent, won 79 percent of his first-serve points, 68 percent of second-serve points and only faced two break points in the match.

“I think he started pretty strong. The first game serving I thought I played a good game, but I think he came with some really strong shots, really flat,” Alcaraz said. “I stayed there all the time.

“I knew I was going to have my chances and I tried to take it during the first set. I think all in all it’s been a really really high level of tennis on both sides. I’m just really really happy I got it in three sets.”

Reconfiguring his service motion, Alcaraz now initiates his motion with his Babolat racquet a bit higher. 

The six-time Grand Slam champion has delivered a tremendous serving performance and has not surrendered a set in four tournament wins to advance to his 14th career major quarterfinal. 

In fact, Alcaraz’s streamlined service motion has evoked comparisons to Novak Djokovic’s serve with the Grand Slam king himself jokingly texting the top seed seeking some compensation from the world No. 1 for the serving inspiration.

“I have the contract over there but I haven’t seen him yet,” Alcaraz said of Djokovic. “It was funny because in the preseason some videos came up with the movement. 

“To be honest I didn’t worry that it was really similar to Nole’s serve. I take out my phone and I have Djokovic message that you have to pay me for the serve. It was fun this kind of things in the locker room is fun to share with another player.”

Alcaraz and Paul share well-earned reputations as two of the finest athletes on Tour and that made for some riveting all-court rallies especially in the opening set. 

Transitioning from defense to offense fluidly, Alcaraz was both point extender and exterminator at times today.

The Spaniard’s forehand is heavier than Paul’s forehand and Alcaraz applied it to break back in the eighth game.

Crunching a forehand return brought Alcaraz a second break point. When Paul netted a forehand, Alcaraz snapped the American’s streak of 38 straight service holds in the tournament to break for 4-all.

The tiebreaker was even at 3-all when a fan in the upper deck fell ill. Staffers attended to the fallen fan during about a 14-and-a-half minute delay that saw Paul and Alcaraz sit and wait.

After play resumed, Paul pounded a clean backhand strike down the line edging ahead 5-4 in the breaker. Paul had two serves to seal the set, but Alcaraz came back strong pounding down a bounce smash for a second set point. 

Paul sailed a double fault deep in a disappointing end to a high quality opening set.

Alcaraz hit 16 winners—six more than Paul—and won 10 of 12 trips to net in that 72-minute opening set.

Even when Paul pushed him to the perimeters, Alcaraz answered sometimes with brilliant running strikes. It’s an explosive athleticism that can spook even quick-footed opponents like Paul.

“Whoever taught him, taught him well,” Hall of Famer John McEnroe told Tennis Now in a past interview on Alcaraz. “If you had to pick the Top 5 athletes that ever played on a tennis court without a doubt he would be one of the Top 5.

“He’s just a natural freak athlete for our sport that can cover the court in ways that few people have ever been able to do so.”

Mixing in subtle drop shots with screaming drives, Alcaraz extended his lead to two sets.

The US Open champion carved the drop shot-volley combination holding at love to level the third set after 10 games.

The top seed made his move in the 11th game. 

Rifling a forehand return crosscourt to open the game, Alcaraz hit a heavy forehand to coax the error for double break point.

Chair umpire Marija Cicak called a let on Paul’s first serve, which both players seemed to dispute. Replaying the point, Paul missed his first serve wide and paid the price. Alcaraz unleashed another biting forehand that forced a Paul forehand to clip the tape and land long as the Spaniard broke for 6-5.

Flashing a serve winner down the T, Alcaraz secured his spot in a third consecutive AO quarterfinal in two hours, 44 minutes.