Carlos Alcaraz becomes youngest man since Novak Djokovic to reach QFs at all four Grand Slams

Carlos Alcaraz played the best match of his Australian Open campaign thus far on Monday (January 22), beating the unseeded Serb Miomir Kecmanovic 6-4, 6-4, 6-0 to reach the quarterfinals. Following his victory, Alcaraz now finds himself in an exclusive list with Novak Djokovic.

Alcaraz has been one of the best players of this decade. The teen sensation won his maiden Grand Slam title at the 2022 US Open, before backing it up with his Wimbledon triumph last year. Before this week, the World No. 2 had reached at least the quarterfinals of three of the four Grand Slams, excluding the Australian Open.

Carlos Alcaraz, however, seems to have finally figured out the playing conditions in Melbourne. The Spaniard cracked the last eight in his third participation Down Under, making him the youngest player since Novak Djokovic in 2007 to reach the quarterfinals of all four Majors at 20 years, 8 months and 3 weeks.

Alcaraz reached the semifinals and the quarterfinals at the French Open in 2023 and 2022, respectively. He has reached the last-eight stage or better at the US Open in 2021-23, while also winning Wimbledon in 2023 despite never making the quarterfinals at the event previously.

Novak Djokovic, meanwhile, had reached the quarterfinals of all four Grand Slams at 20 years, 8 months and 1 week. The Serb had reached at least the semifinals of the French Open, Wimbledon and the US Open in 2007, before following it up with his maiden Major title at the 2008 Australian Open.

Apart from Carlos Alcaraz, only nine active players have reached at least the quarterfinals of all four Majors. They are Novak Djokovic, Rafael Nadal, Andy Murray, Stan Wawrinka, Marin Cilic, Jannik Sinner, Kei Nishikori, Milos Raonic and Matteo Berrettini.

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Carlos Alcaraz to face Alexander Zverev for a place in the semifinals of Australian Open 2024

Carlos Alcaraz returns a ball at the 2024 Australian Open

Carlos Alcaraz, meanwhile, will resume his rivalry with Alexander Zverev in the quarterfinals of the 2024 Australian Open. Unlike his opponent, the sixth-seeded German has had a more difficult path to the last eight in Melbourne.

Zverev began his campaign Down Under with a four-set victory over countryman Dominik Koepfer. The German then had to launch a comeback from a two-sets-to-one deficit to beat Slovakia's Lukas Klein in his next match.

While he won his third-round match in straight sets, Zverev again went the distance against Cameron Norrie in their Round-of-16 encounter on Monday (January 22). The World No. 6 needed more than four hours to beat the Brit in a fifth set super-tiebreaker, eventually winning 7-5, 3-6, 6-3, 4-6, 7-6(3).

Zverev leads Alcaraz by a margin of 4-3 in their head-to-head meetings. However, the German has lost three of their last five encounters since Alcaraz rose to the top echelon of men's tennis in 2022.