French Open 2025 Men’s Day 2

Carlos Alcaraz began his defence of the French Open on Monday with a resounding 6-3, 6-4, 6-2 defeat of Italian qualifier Guilio Zeppieri to soar into the second round.

The Spanish second seed carried on his momentum from this month’s Rome title as he advanced in just under two hours.

 “It was really, really solid; first round at any tournament is never easy,” the 21-year-old said.

“Coming here as defending champion made it even tougher. I started out playing well and showed a good tennis and a good rhythm.

“Hopefully I can keep it going into the next round.. I’m proud of my start, I was really excited to play my first match here this year.”

Fourth seed Taylor Fritz. who played the fourth round here a year ago, lasted for nearly three hours before exiting against German Daniel Altmaier as the American seed ends his clay season early.

“Between Rome, Geneva and here, my movement on court is really bad. I don’t know what’s going on.,” he said.

“When I’m sliding, I’m off balance, I’m not timing it correctly. I don’t know. I’m getting wrong-footed a lot, slipping a lot.”

Seventh seed Casper Ruud dispatched first-round opponent Albert Ramos-Vinolas, a veteran Spanish qualifier, 6-3, 6-4, 6-2 in just over two hours.

The Norwegian winner bounced back strongly after winning just one game in a Rome semi-final humiliation by Jannik Sinner 11 days ago.

” Of course, I got a good beating by Jannik in Rome. That’s long erased from the memory in a way,” Ruud said.

“Happy to get going with a win again. I hope I can continue to build on it for the next matches and days here in Roland Garros.”

He added: “All in all it was a pretty good match, I really played well when it got close and I needed behind my own serve,” the Scandinavian said.

“I went for a few bigger shots here and there when I felt I had a chance to. It’s important to show him that you can hit both strong forehands and backhands because if he finds a weak spot in your game, he will really, really use that. 

Holger Rune, seeded 10th, needed three and a quarter hours to overcome Roberto Bautista Agut, advancing in a 6-7 (4), 6-4, 6-3, 6-2 fightback effort.

Australian Alexei Popyrin advanced when Japanese opponent Yoshihito Nishioka retired injured to hand over a 7-5, 6-4, 1-2 win to last summer’s Montreal Masters champion.

Stefanos Tsitsipas, losing finalist four years ago to Novak Djokovic, got off to a winning start, defeating Tomas Martin Etcheverry 7-5, 6-3, 6-4.

2015 titlewinner Stan Wawrinka, 40, fell to young Brit Jakob Fearnley 7-6 (6), 6-3, 6-2 after two hours of battle.