Carlos Alcaraz hoodoo continues in Novak Djokovic defeat

Novak Djokovic is through to the semifinals of the Australian Open 2025 after a superb X-X victory over Carlos Alcaraz in the last eight in Melbourne.

How Djokovic beat Alcaraz

Despite making a fast start, in which he broke the Spaniard in his first service game, Djokovic lost the opening set and appeared to struggling with a groin issue, which led to the trainer being called.

However, the veteran made a miraculous recovery to bounce back in emphatic fashion, with his serve firing nicely and his defensive game in characteristically excellent shape. Alcaraz, on the other hand, struggled to win points on his second serve, which proved his downfall.

The Serb, chasing a record-extending 25th Grand Slam, broke in the final game to take the second set and edged ahead early in both the third and fourth. Djokovic’s relentless approach put his opponent into constant difficulty when serving and the Spaniard rarely threatened to mount a comeback.

Carlos Alcaraz’s surprise record at the Australian Open

The defeat continues Alcaraz’s puzzling run at the Australian Open. The 21-year-old is already a four-time Grand Slam champion, with one victory apiece at the US Open (2022) and Roland-Garros (2024), and two triumphs at Wimbledon.

Yet the world No. 3 - previously No. 1 - has continued his trend of never getting past the quarterfinals at the Australian Open.

In his first appearance in Melbourne at the age of 17 in 2021, he was beaten by Sweden’s Mikael Ymer in the second round. In 2022, he lost to seventh seed Matteo Berrettini in round three, while he missed the following year’s tournament because of a hamstring injury.

Prior to this year, his best performance Down Under had come in 2024. As second seed, he was beaten by sixth seed Alexander Zverev in four sets in the last eight.

Alcaraz returned to form to win both the French Open and Wimbledon, which he will hope is a good omen for the remainder of 2025.

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