PARIS — Carlos Alcaraz opened his French Open title protection Monday with a 6-3, 6-4, 6-2 win over Giulio Zeppieri, an Italian qualifier who’s ranked 310th.
Alcaraz gained all 14 of his service video games, saving the three break factors he confronted, at Courtroom Suzanne-Lenglen.
“It was actually, actually stable,” Alcaraz mentioned. “Actually proud about my begin.”
Elsewhere within the males’s bracket, fourth-seeded American Taylor Fritz crashed out of the event Monday after a 7-5, 3-6, 6-3, 6-1 loss to Daniel Altmaier of Germany.
Altmaier broke Fritz’s large serve 5 occasions at Courtroom Simonne-Mathieu and ended the Californian’s 15-match Grand Slam successful streak towards gamers ranked exterior the highest 50.
Alcaraz is seeded No. 2 behind Jannik Sinner however coming off a clay-court title on the Italian Open somewhat greater than every week in the past. Alcaraz beat Sinner within the closing there.
Sinner gained in straight units Monday, defeating Arthur Rinderknech 6-4, 6-3, 7-5.
Monday’s outcome gave Alcaraz 28 wins in his previous 30 matches on crimson clay, together with going 7-for-7 a 12 months in the past at Roland-Garros. One of many losses got here towards Novak Djokovic within the gold medal match finally 12 months’s Paris Olympics, held on the similar website because the French Open.
Additionally Monday, two-time runner-up Casper Ruud started his bid to achieve one other Roland-Garros closing with a 6-3, 6-4, 6-2 first-round victory over Spanish qualifier Albert Ramos-Vinolas.
Former runner-up Stefanos Tsitsipas made mild work of Tomas Martin Etcheverry, defeating the Argentine 7-5, 6-3, 6-4.
Briton Jacob Fearnley eased previous three-time Grand Slam champion Stan Wawrinka, beating the 40-year-old Swiss 7-6 (6), 6-3, 6-2.
Richard Gasquet, in his closing French Open look, dispatched fellow Frenchman Terence Atmane 6-2, 2-6, 6-3 6-0.
The Related Press and Reuters contributed to this report.