It is safe to say a player who is aiming to become the youngest man to complete the career Grand Slam does not have many faults.

However, if there was one area where Carlos Alcaraz was weaker than the rest, it was his serve.

The 21-year-old Spaniard and his team, headed by coach Juan Carlos Ferrero, looked to put that right before the new season.

So far at the Australian Open, Alcaraz has been reaping the benefit of his beefed-up serve.

On Wednesday, Alcaraz hit 14 aces in a 6-0 6-1 6-4 second-round win against Japan's Yoshihito Nishioka.

He left a cheeky message on the on-court camera lens afterwards, writing: "Am I a servebot?"

Alcaraz was joking, of course - he will never be John Isner, the 6ft 10in former world number eight who became the prototype 'servebot'.

Nor will he be Reilly Opelka, another skyscraper American who has whacked 78 aces in his opening two matches.

Alcaraz has hit 20 aces in total - putting him in tied 20th in the men's draw - but his ironic message showed he is happy with his serving progress.

In the one-sided victory over Nishioka, the world number three won 89% of first serve points - helped by those aces - and 71% of second serve points.

It was a huge improvement from his opening match and the result of a Tuesday practice session dedicated to serving.

"I felt really good today with the serve," said Alcaraz, who is bidding to surpass Rafael Nadal as the youngest man to win all four majors in the Open era.

"I talked with Juan Carlos about what I have to do today with the serve, what I did wrong and what I did great from the first match.

"I felt more comfortable on it. I think the serve is about confidence and feelings."

Osaka, 27, gave birth to daughter Shai in July 2023 and returned to the WTA Tour six months later.

The four-time major winner lost in the first round on her Slam return at the Australian Open last year, before exiting in the second round at Roland Garros, Wimbledon and Flushing Meadows.

But the former world number one is off to an impressive start in 2025, beating France's Caroline Garcia in three sets in her opening match before overcoming 20th seed Muchova in just under two hours.

"Honestly, it took everything," Osaka said of her comeback victory on Wednesday.

"I felt like I left everything I had on the court. Just to be back on these courts... it really makes my whole year."

Osaka will play Belinda Bencic in the next round, with the Canadian herself playing her first Grand Slam since giving birth to daughter Bella in April 2024.

A third straight victory would send Osaka into the fourth round at a major for the first time since she won the Australian Open in 2021.

Zheng Qinwen admitted it was not her day as she was beaten in the Australian Open second round in the biggest shock of the tournament so far.

China's Zheng, runner-up to Aryna Sabalenka last year and the Olympic singles gold medallist, lost 7-6 (7-3) 6-3 to German veteran Laura Siegemund.

The fifth seed is the highest ranked player from either singles draw to lose so far at Melbourne Park.

Zheng was irked by two time violations during the match, one of which cost her a first serve.

She complained to the umpire that she could not see the shot clock, which tells players how long they have left to serve before the 25 second allowance runs out.

"Maybe today is not my day," Zheng, 22, said.

"There's a lot of details in the important points. I didn't do the right choice."

WINNIPEG, Manitoba -- Kyle Connor scored a natural hat trick in the first period, sparking the Winnipeg Jets to a 6-1 victory over the Vancouver Canucks on Tuesday night.

The left-winger's sixth career hat trick came in a span of 6:38, making it the third fastest in Jets-Thrashers' history.

According to ESPN Research, Connor's was the 30th natural hat trick within the first 14 minutes of a game in NHL history. And it was the second-fastest natural hat trick from the start of the game in franchise history, trailing the 11:24 effort by former forward Sean Monahan on Feb. 19, 2024, against the Calgary Flames.

"It was just kind of being in the right spot," Connor said after the win. "It was one of those in that the bounces seemed to be going the right way, especially early."

Connor's third goal came on a breakaway, when he deked in front of Vancouver goaltender Kevin Lankinen and sent the puck around Lankinen's outstretched stick. The feat seemed to deflate the Canucks, who were outshot 20-10 in the second period.

"I actually didn't mind our first [period], but three big mistakes ended up in the net," Vancouver coach Rich Tocchet said. "It's a good hockey club over there, and obviously, we'd say that everyone on our team had a tough night."

Mark Scheifele, Neal Pionk and Nino Niederreiter each had a goal and assist for the Jets, who are the first team to hit 30 wins this season.

Gabriel Vilardi recorded three assists and Cole Perfetti added a pair to give him 100 NHL career points.

Connor Hellebuyck made 23 saves to pick up his league-leading 27th win of the season for Winnipeg, which is 3-1-2 in its season-long, eight-game homestand.

Nils Hoglander scored a third-period goal for the Canucks, who finished a five-game road trip, going 1-2-2. Lankinen stopped 27 shots for Vancouver.

"It's tough when you go down 3-0 after one [period], and obviously, it was 5-0 after two," Vancouver defenseman Quinn Hughes said. "Obviously, this is a disappointing result."

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

PITTSBURGH -- Sitting in a quiet dressing room on Tuesday night after another blown lead turned into another crippling loss in a season increasingly filled with them, Evgeni Malkin spoke quietly.

The Pittsburgh Penguins star has long served as the franchise's emotional core, the Russian's passion serving as the yin to longtime captain Sidney Crosby's more reserved yang.

Malkin is well aware his historic partnership with Crosby and Kris Letang is nearing an end. The final chapter is not going the way the longest-tenured trio of teammates in major North American sports planned.

So after two periods of dominance against Seattle morphed into a 4-2 defeat to cap a maddening homestand in which the Penguins won just once in five tries -- the lone victory against Connor McDavid and Edmonton -- Malkin shook his head and vented.

"It's not good enough," he said. "I hope we look in the mirror, tonight and tomorrow and start playing better."

It's been a difficult week, all around, for Malkin. Earlier in the day, news that his home had been burglarized was confirmed by the team. The Penguins added, in a statement to WPXI-TV on Tuesday night, that they're working with local authorities and team security.

The All-Star break is a few weeks away, but time already feels like it's starting to run out. The Penguins begin a seven-game, 12-day road trip on Friday in Buffalo on the fringe of the playoff chase in the underwhelming Eastern Conference, the prospect of missing out on the postseason for a third straight year becoming all the more real with every defensive breakdown, every soft goal, every missed opportunity.

"We see standings," said Malkin, who had an assist in his return from a four-game absence due to an upper-body injury. "I think we understand we miss playoffs and it's half-season gone. We understand everything. (If) we want to play playoffs, we need to play so much better, every zone, every moment."

Yet that kind of consistency has been elusive for most of the season save for a promising stretch between Thanksgiving and Christmas in which Pittsburgh clawed back into contention following a nightmarish opening six weeks.

The optimism, however, has dimmed since the holiday break. Pittsburgh is just 2-5-3 over its last 10 to fall back under .500 after letting Seattle's Jamie Oleksiak and Eeli Tolvanen score 49 seconds apart in the third period to turn a 2-1 deficit into a 3-2 lead.

Both goals highlighted the Penguins' erratic play in the defensive end. Oleksiak came onto the ice on a line change, took the puck at the top of the Pittsburgh zone and skated unchallenged down the slot before beating Tristan Jarry.

Moments later, Tolvanen stood all alone in front of the net to tap in a centering pass from Shane White to put the Kraken in front.

"It's really frustrating," defenseman Marcus Pettersson said. "We're giving away points. We have nobody to blame but ourselves."

It's not that the Penguins can't defend. They held Tampa Bay to two shots in the first period on Sunday. They did the same to the Kraken just over 48 hours later. Both times, the opponents skated off with the win after breakdowns at critical times.

"If I had the answer, I'd fix it," said Mike Sullivan, the NHL's second-longest tenured coach. "We simply have to do a better job (in our end) and that falls on me."

Malkin isn't sure he agrees. The Penguins were a playoff fixture during his first 16 seasons in the league and he has raised the Stanley Cup three times. During that era, a certain standard was set. Pittsburgh hasn't lived up to it for quite a while.

"I think everybody understands what's going on," he said. "We have nice organization. We have great history."

All NHL dynasties end, though general manager Kyle Dubas said before the season began that he didn't think the Penguins needed to strip the franchise down "to the studs" to rebuild. He has injected some much-needed youth onto the roster, including trading for Philip Tomasino, who scored his fifth goal on Tuesday.

Yet every step forward has been met with a step back. Goaltenders Jarry and Alex Nedeljkovic have shown a propensity to give up early goals. They've allowed opponents to score on their first shot nine times in 46 games, forcing Pittsburgh to play catchup too frequently.

While Crosby in particular remains a marvel -- he's on pace to average a point a game for what would be a record 20th straight season -- the Penguins don't have the firepower that once came so easily. Their margin for error is smaller and they remain one of the league's oldest teams.

Spending the next two weeks crisscrossing North America could give them a chance to steal away and hit the reset button. Or it could drop them into a hole so deep they could be essentially out of it by Groundhog Day. It could go either way. No one knows that more than Malkin.

"We need to play so much harder," Malkin said.

And do it quickly.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

The Houston Texans on Tuesday waived wide receiver Diontae Johnson as they prepare for their divisional-round playoff game on Saturday against the Kansas City Chiefs.

"Unfortunately, with Diontae it didn't work out," coach DeMeco Ryans said Tuesday. "We're on to the Chiefs."

Following the Texans' wild-card playoff victory over the Los Angeles Chargers on Saturday, Johnson was visibly upset in the locker room. He was fully dressed sitting at his locker staring in frustration because of a lack of playing time and targets. Running back Joe Mixon and linebacker Azeez Al-Shaair tried to comfort and encourage him.

Johnson played only 15 out of the Texans' 70 offensive snaps and received only one target. He finished the game with one catch for 12 yards.

Johnson had three catches for 24 yards in two games with Houston after the Texans claimed Johnson off waivers from the Baltimore Ravens on Dec. 23. Baltimore had moved on from the receiver after he refused to enter a game against the Philadelphia Eagles on Dec. 1.

Before the Ravens waived Johnson, they suspended him one game for his refusal to play against the Eagles. Baltimore had acquired him in a trade with the Carolina Panthers on Oct. 29, but he played only 39 snaps for the team, catching one pass for 6 yards.

The Panthers acquired Johnson from the Pittsburgh Steelers before the season. He had 30 catches for 257 yards and three touchdowns for Carolina when he was dealt to the Ravens.

The Steelers drafted Johnson in the third round of the 2019 draft and he had 391 catches for 4,363 yards and 25 touchdowns in Pittsburgh. He earned a Pro Bowl selection in 2021 with his lone 1,000-yard season and a career-high eight touchdown receptions in quarterback Ben Roethlisberger's final year.

ESPN's DJ Bien-Aime contributed to this report.