Yoshihito Nishioka would be forgiven for wishing he could have dug a hole and hidden given the early barrage from a rampant Carlos Alcaraz in the Australian Open second round on Wednesday.
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The 170cm southpaw instead saw the humour in the initial attack he was dealt before he made inroads against the Spaniard’s blistering onslaught in a 6-0 6-1 6-4 result.
For the opening two sets, Alcaraz flicked the showtime switch at will.
His poise, pace and precision outclassed the world No.65 from Japan before the slightest dip in a somewhat closer-contested third set.
This was a man in a hurry. His ace count hit 14, his winner count 36, and he was back in the change room after just 81 minutes.
“The less time you spend on court in the Grand Slams, especially at the beginning of the tournament, it’s going to be better, especially physically,” Alcaraz said. “I’m feeling great, but yeah, I just tried to be focused and spend as less time as I can [out there].”
The 21-year-old had made the move to a 5g heavier racquet in the off-season in a bid to flex greater authority.
Already during the opening two matches of his campaign he was striking the ball with 200rpm less topspin on his forehand but 2km/h faster than his 2024 average.
His serve was particularly devastating – he claimed 89 per cent of first-serve points – and it was not lost on the third seed.
He signed the camera lens “Am I a serve bot?” before he departed MCA.
“I felt much better today with the serve,” Alcaraz said. “Just ironic things that I must have [been a serve] bot, but I think I have to improve it a lot if I want to put my name on that list.
"But yeah, I felt really well today with the serve. Yesterday I was really focused on the serve in the practice. I spent more time serving yesterday.
“I talked with Juan Carlos [Ferrero about] what I have to do today on the serve, what I did wrong, what I did great from the first match serving, just improve a little bit.
“I felt more comfortable on it, yes. I think the serve's about confidence and feelings. Today I felt great … I think yesterday practice was really helpful for today.”
Nishioka is not typically at sea on hard courts, having collected his third career title in Atlanta last year but on this stage against an opponent superior in every department he was soon treading water, and the first set was over in just 18 minutes.
He laughed in relief as he waved Alcaraz’s return long when he finally ended up on the scoreboard in the 10th game.
The roar of encouragement that went up further helped lift the burden of helplessness, but Alcaraz still had all the answers as he comfortably booked a third-round meeting against Portugal’s Nuno Borges, a straight-sets winner over 27th-seeded Aussie Jordan Thompson.
Having only dropped four points on his first serve on Thursday, Alcaraz’s off-season tweaks were well on track. Not easily satisfied though, he was still searching for improvement.
“Accuracy was one of them. Most of the serves I put the ball in where I wanted,” he said. “The percentage, it was one of them as well. It was about feeling, as well. I felt really well with the movement, with the rhythm, [tossing] the ball.
“In the first match I struggled a little bit with throwing the ball. Today I threw the ball most of the sets in the right position. As I said, that helped a lot with the rhythm and with how I hit the ball. So, it was a mix of everything that I did much better today.”