Forced to miss last year’s Australian Open because of injury, Wimbledon champion Alcaraz dominated French veteran Gasquet on his return to Melbourne Park in a 7-6 (7-5) 6-1 6-2 win.
The 20-year-old Spaniard, who at his past four Grand Slams has won two titles and reached two semi-finals, is aiming to significantly improve his record in Melbourne – where he has not gone beyond the third round in two previous appearances.
Alcaraz remained patient when faced with stern resistance from the 37-year-old Gasquet – playing the 23rd season of his career – who saved nine break points to force a tie-break in an entertaining opening set.
But, after edging the tie-break from 5-4 down, Alcaraz’s quality shone through – although Gasquet forced him to wait until his fifth match point to finally clinch a victory which set up a second-round meeting with Italian Lorenzo Sonego, who beat Briton Dan Evans.
Elsewhere, Danish eighth seed Rune beat Yoshihito Nishioka 6-2 4-6 7-6 (7-3) 6-4 in what he called a “physical battle”.
German sixth seed Zverev, meanwhile, had to come from behind to beat compatriot Dominik Koepfer 4-6 6-3 7-6 (7-3) 6-3.
The win came the day after German court officials set a date for his trial over domestic abuse allegations, which he denies.
Bulgarian 13th seed Grigor Dimitrov – fresh from winning his first ATP title since 2017 in Brisbane – also advanced, coming back to beat Marton Fucsovics 4-6 6-3 7-6 (7-1) 6-2.
Meanwhile, 26-year-old Nagal will get the chance to further improve his bank balance – reaching the third round brings prize money of £133,000 – when he takes on Chinese world number 140 Shang Juncheng, who is ranked three places below him.
He said he was not thinking about expectations back home, saying: “I want to go through this moment, take my time, enjoy being with my coach, have conversation, maybe eat a burger or something, and call it a night.”
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