Carlos Alcaraz into Australian Open Quarter-Finals after unfortunate injury end for Jack Draper, Novak Djokovic potentially awaits

Carlos Alcaraz is into the Quarter-Finals of the 2025 Australian Open after seeing off Jack Draper albeit it was an unfortunate end for the Brit who had to retire due to injury on Sunday morning.

Alcaraz hits a milestone of 10 career Grand Slam Quarter-Finals but it was in unfortunate scenes. Draper who came into the tournament as an injury doubt anyway played three five setters on the bounce so was always touch and go whether or not he would be able to continue in that vain.

He wasn't as he gave up after just over a set. He had seen off Mariano Navone, Thanasi Kokkinakis and Aleksandar Vukic to reach this point. Alcaraz was fresher and better than the Brit in every phase as he sealed the win.

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Continuing to gain a head of steam, the likely test up next is a certain Novak Djokovic. He faces Jiri Lehecka shortly in the Last 16 but it could see a return of that battle that we saw for Wimbledon and also the Olympic Games last year and was split.

But one that always produces the goods as Alcaraz looks to dethrone the 10-time Australian Open champion like he has done at Wimbledon previously in terms of imperious ability on the grand stage.

Alcaraz won 7-5, 6-1 retirement against Draper as they fought a hotly contested first set which Alcaraz edged. He went 5-3 up before Draper hit back only to lose his serve as Alcaraz upped the anti in the final knockings of the set.

But the physical toll started to get to Draper as Alcaraz sped through the second set 6-1. He broke twice and could've been broken again at 3-0. He claimed the set and Draper decided to throw in the towel. A shame to see for the rising Brit who will want to match Alcaraz to join the next generation of talents but while he did at times, it shows there is still some semblance of a gap keeping them apart mainly in their injury record.

In numbers, it should be noted that the world number 3 again fell into the same mistakes: missing too many break points, as he "only" took 4 of the 12 he had during the duel. He was, however, very successful with his first serves, winning 83% of the points and finishing the match with 6 aces. He arrives fresh to the final part of an Australian Open in which he has been drawn in a terrifying draw in which he could face the aforementioned Djokovic, Alexander Zverev in the semis and Jannik Sinner in the final. Step by step, for the moment the only sure thing is that the Spaniard is already in the quarterfinals of the first Grand Slam of the year.

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