Alcaraz overcame a concentration lapse in the second set to breeze through his first-round clash with Khazakhstan's Alexander Shevchenko, winning 6-1 7-5 6-1 in less than two hours.
In doing so, the 21-year-old Spaniard maintained his record of never having lost in the first round at a grand slam.
The four-time major winner is chasing his first success at Melbourne Park and has his eyes set on becoming the youngest player to complete a career grand slam.
He next faces a second-round clash with Japan's Yoshihito Nishioka, who fought past qualifier Aziz Dougaz 3-6 6-4 7-6 (7-3) 6-3.
Alcaraz had too many guns for his rival despite a second set hiccup. (Lukas Coch/AAP PHOTOS)
Alcaraz plundered 38 winners to Shevchenko's 18 and was pleased with the overall level he reached in his first competitive outing of the season, after playing just two exhibition matches last week in the build-up.
But he felt there was plenty of room for improvement in his serve, which he tweaked over the off-season in search of more rhythm and precision.
Alcaraz landed 59 per cent of first serves - down from last season's average of 65 per cent - against Shevchenko and sent down six aces.
"I struggled a little bit. It's something that I'm still thinking about," Alcaraz said.
"A lot of things come to my mind when I'm going to serve, so I have to get it natural or as natural as I can.
"I just struggled with the percentage of the first serve - that's something that I want to get higher. Hopefully in the next days it's going to get better."
Lauded for his humility after a video clip of him interacting with Australian Open support staff went viral this week, Alcaraz further endeared himself to the local crowd in a dominant start.
He claimed the first set in just 28 minutes, breaking his opponent's serve for the third time with a brilliant cross-court forehand winner.
Alcaraz briefly lost concentration and had to dig himself out of a 3-5 hole to rescue the second set, snapping out of the funk to peel off the next four straight games.
"It's something that's in my mind, to not be mad, just trying to recover the good rhythm again," Alcaraz said.
"It's what I tried doing in the second set.
"It's the first match of the season, what happened was normal to lose focus a little bit.
"I just want to try not (let that) happen again in the next round."
Another distraction arose early in the third set when a small group of unruly spectators were warned by the chair umpire over their behaviour.
Alcaraz steadied, aced his next serve to take a 2-1 lead and closed out the match with ease.
22°C