Novak Djokovic and coach Andy Murray are put to the test again at the Australian Open, this time against Portuguese qualifier Jaime Faria at Rod Laver Arena.

Inspired American teenager Nishesh Basavareddy troubled the ten-time champion in the opening minutes of their first-round match on Monday, while 21-year-old Faria fed Djoko Veitch brings another set of problems that need to be addressed.

But the 37-year-old finally defeated the world No. 125 player 6-1 6-7 (7-4) 6-3 6-2, taking another step towards his 25th Grand Slam title.

The experience gap looked like a chasm in a lopsided first set, but Faria won the second set in the tiebreaker and clawed her way back into the match with her superior groundstrokes and all-court athleticism.

However, Djokovic broke serve at 4-2 in the third set when his former rival Murray appeared in the coaching bench again, and completely eliminated his opponent’s threat in the fourth set and started a match with the Czech team. duel. Thomas Machak.

“I love this court, I love competition,” the Serbian said after reaching the third round of the Australian Open for the 17th time and hitting his 14th ace of the match.

“I thought I responded well in the third set and especially the fourth set. He played lights-out tennis at the end of the second set and the beginning of the third set and I had to get through it.

“I told him online, ‘Your future is bright, so go ahead’.”

Alcaraz aims to achieve ‘service robot’ status in Melbourne

third seed Carlos Alcaraz In 81 minutes, he swept Nishioka Yoshihito 6-0 6-1 6-4 and advanced to the third round.

Alcaraz started strong and was out of control, winning his first nine games before Nishioka came on.

“I’m really happy with my serve today,” said Alcaraz, who wrote “Am I a serving robot?” on camera.

“That’s something I worked on in pre-season. I struggled a little bit in the first round, so I wasn’t too happy with my serve.

“Yesterday I was more focused on practicing my serve. I spent more time with Juan Carlos (Ferrero) and my team on my serve and that’s something I really want to get better at. So I’m happy It worked well today, I hope the next round will be better.”

Alcaraz will next face Portugal Nuno Borgeshe defeated No. 27 seed Jordan Thompson 6-3 6-2 6-4.

The Spaniard is aiming to become the youngest person in history to complete a career Grand Slam within two weeks.

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