Roland Garros 2026 Men’s Day 1

Alexander Zverev maintained his near-perfect first-round success rate at Roland Garros as the second seed produced a 6-3, 6-4, 6-2 defeat of Benjamin Bonzi to advance on Sunday’s opening day.

The German who played the final here in 2024 against Carlos Alcaraz, has passed the Paris first round for the tenth time in 11 appearances.

He won in sweltering 33 Celsius conditions, which are expected to last for through the coming Week 1

The 29-year-old who has been bothered by recent back issues due to a busy match schedule, nevertheless has compiled an impressive spring clay record, reaching the Madrid final along with semi-finals in Monte Carlo and Munich.

He stumbled in the Rome Masters run-up, going out in the fourth round to Luciano Darderi as his back worry played up, causing him to withdraw from Geneva.

Zverev made his move into the second round in around two hours over the No 98.

“It was a good start, it’s sometimes as simple as that,” Zverev said, “I won in three sets. 

“It was an opening match against an opponent who can make it difficult against good players. He’s shown that in the past, and I handled it well.

“That’s what I’m the most happy about.”

Zverev advanced to the semi-finals at three of four clay events played this season, highlighted by a run to the Madrid final.

Australian James Duckworth booked the first second-round spot of the fortnight after winning an abbreviated opening match, defeating injured Canadian Gabriel Diallo 6-3, 4-1 in barely an hour.

Karen Khachanov dished out the first French loss of the tournament as he defeated Arthur Gea 6-3, 7-6 (3), 6-0,with the 140th-ranked wild card forced to rush off court at one point for a bathroom emergency.

Spain’s Alejandro Davidovich Fokina needed more than four hours to complete a 6-7 (3), 6-3, 2-6, 7-5, 6-3 defeat of Damir Dzumhur.

“Today was a very tough match, I didn’t expect that it was going to be that hot today,” the winner said.

“I suffered a lot with this heat. At the beginning, I was not feeling very good, so I needed to change a little bit my plans.

“Physically I was struggling a little bit. At the end, I was a little bit lucky
playing two, three shots. I made a lot of winners.”

He said the win needed extra effort after playing last week in the cool 10 Celsius of Hamburg,