MELBOURNE, Australia — Carlos Alcaraz thrives when the tennis record books are within reach, and he has to do hard things to write his name in them.

With each captivating swish of his racquet, Carlos Alcaraz seemingly edges closer to more history.

The top-ranked Alcaraz dropped the first set of the Australian Open final in 33 minutes Sunday as Novak Djokovic went out hard in pursuit of an unprecedented 25th major title, but the young Spaniard d...