Alcaraz Beats Djokovic to Win Australian Open

MELBOURNE: Carlos Alcaraz became the youngest man to complete a career Grand Slam after securing the Australian Open title against Novak Djokovic, who had never lost in his previous 10 finals, at Melbourne Park.

Top-seeded Alcaraz lost the first set on Sunday as Djokovic sought a 25th major title but recovered to win 2-6, 6-2, 6-3, 7-5.

The 22-year-old Spaniard often struggled to catch the winning shots for Djokovic and kept intense pressure on his 38-year-old opponent.

Both players earned hard-fought five-set semifinal victories and displayed outstanding conditioning, athleticism and endurance over just over three hours in pursuit of their respective historic achievements.

Djokovic’s bid for an unprecedented 25th Grand Slam singles title has now been thwarted by Alcaraz or Jannik Sinner across nine majors.

Djokovic edged Sinner in the semi-finals and was aiming to become the oldest man to win a Grand Slam title in the Open era, but he couldn’t quite achieve that against Alcaraz.

At 22 years and 272 days old, Alcaraz became the youngest man to complete all four major singles titles. At the age of 22 years and 363 days, he broke the record set by Don Budge at the 1938 French championships.

Alcaraz currently has seven major championships; the first in Australia, two at Wimbledon and the French and US openings.