Holder Carlos Alcaraz lost his first set of the fortnight on Wednesday at the French Open but did not let the setback stop him from a third-round spot in the clay classic.

The second seed who beat Alexander Zverev for the trophy a year ago, overcame Hungarian Fabian Maroszan 6-1, 4-6, 6-1, 6-2 

The 22-year-old became the first man born in the 2000’s to win 20 matches here, reaching the Paris third round for the fifth time.

Alcaraz slipped in the second set as his underdog opponent claimed that set; but the Spaniard quickly re-established his level to run out the winner in just over two hours.

“I started well with high confidence,” he said. In the second set he started playing better, more aggressive and not missing at all.

“It was difficult to deal with his game. But I was happy to stay strong, refresh and play better in the last two sets.”

Two-time finalist Casper Ruud found himself a shock upset victim of Portuguese Nuno Borges,with the Norwegian seventh seed beaten 2-6, 6-4, 6-1, 6-0.

The top Scandinavian revealed that he has been trying to manage injury over the last weeks of the clay campaign.

“For the last couple of weeks I’ve been struggling with knee pain on and off. I first felt it in Monte Carlos so it’s been with me the entire clay season.

“When you’re practising, it’s easier to avoid certain movements that are painful.

“But when you’re playing matches, you can’t really control it; you do everything you can to get to every ball. 

“Sometimes you kind of forget that this is a shot I shouldn’t go for in terms of pain in the knee. When you play a match, you go full on.”

The Norwegian complained that ATP regulations are forcing some to compete while still hurt.

“It’s tough especially (to skip) mandatory events because the punishments are quite hard. Everyone else will play, gain points, and you won’t. 

“There’s a certain bonus system that is reduced if you don’t show up to the mandatory events.

“One hand you don’t want to show up injured. But if you don’t play a mandatory event, they cut 25 per cent of your year-end bonus.

“You’re forcing players to show up injured or sick, or whatever, when that is not what I think is very fair.”

Newly minted seventh seed Lorenzo Musetti produced his second consecutive straight-set sweep, defeating Colombian lucky Loser Daniel Galan 6-4, 6-0, 6-4.

The Italian, who reached the Rome semi-finals, is hoping that his clay momentum will carry him to a personal best at Roland Garros.

“It’s been a tremendous clay season so far. But the ambitions now are higher. Of course, here I never reached more than the fourth round,” he said after achieving his 10th victory here.

“Hopefully this will be the year. The mentality is to try to beat everyone. 

“I think I’ll have the chances to play (well against) everyone here. Hopefully I’ll take those chances.” 

The Paris Olympic bronze medalist has won 15 of his 18 clay matches this season. 

Australian Alexei Popyrin defeated Alejandro Tabilo 7-5, 6-3, 6-4 while American giant Reilly Opelka fell 6-1, 7-6 (1), 6-3 to Argentine Marino Navone.

 Runner-up four years ago, Stefanos Tsitsipas, was ambushed 6-4, 5-7, 6-2, 6-4 by Italian lefthander Matteo Gigante, who saved four break points as he served for the upset..  

Novak Djokovic appears to be embroiled in a crisis of confidence after withdrawing from next week’s start at the Rome Masters.

The six-time trophy winner at the Foro Italico has not missed the Italian date since his 2007 debut.

The 37-year-old who celebrates a birthday in three weeks, has lost his last five matches and is nil-for-two on clay from Monte Carlo and Madrid defeats.

Djokovic has not won a title since the Paris Olympic last summer and is still chasing the all-time record of 25 Grand Slam titles and 100 Tour trophies.

He has now lost four of his last five opening matches.

Skipping Rome will likely doom any chances for the Serb to get match play before the May 25 start of Roland Garros. His last chance might be a wild card into either the Geneva 250 event or the Hamburg 500, both staged the week before the start of the major in Paris.

Andy Murray has revealed he is planning a minor medical procedure on some nagging back pain in hopes of being fighting fit for what is expected to be his final career grass-court campaign.

The 37-year-old spelled out his plans to British media at the French Open after his first-round loss to Stan Wawrinka.

The Scot ranked 75th is set to rest after the touch-up and then head to Stuttgart for his first pre-Wimbledon event, with the German tournament starting on June 10.

Murray reached the final at the Weissenhof club two years ago, finishing runner-up to Matteo Berrettini after beating NIck Kyrgios in the semis.

“My back has been a problem the last few weeks for practice and stuff. It has not been great,” the former No. 1 said.

“In my prime, clay always caused issues with my back. I didn’t this year (but) it has not been that comfortable.

“I’m hoping I will have a procedure, have a few days’ rest and then should be fine.”

Murray pulled the plug on next week’s Challenger in the far-flung London suburbs, an event beloved by early losers in Paris as they first step onto the grass.

Murray has given strong indications in recent months that he will wrap up his career sometime this year.

Main photo:- Andy Murray won Wimbledon in 2016 – by Karl Winter International Sports Fotos Ltd