Alcaraz, Djokovic face brief trouble in straight-set victories
Pretty much everyone expects to see, and likely wants to see, Carlos Alcaraz and Novak Djokovic face each other in the French Open semi-finals. There’s work to be done first, of course, and both began their journeys at Roland Garros with straight-set victories yesterday against opponents making Grand Slam debuts.
These were supposed to be straightforward chances to ease into the clay-court tournament for the two popular picks to win the men’s trophy — and it turned out that way, other than a brief late blip for each.
Djokovic, a 22-time major champ seeded No. 3, was up first in Court Philippe Chatrier, facing 114thranked Aleksandar Kovacevic, a 24-year-old from New York.
Djokovic served for the victory at 5-4 in the third set but got broken there. Not surprisingly, he quickly righted himself and won 6-3, 6-2, 7-6 (1).
“Made me work for my victory,” Djokovic said.
“I played well and held things under control for two and a half sets and then lost my serve, and things got a little bit on the wrong side for me,” said the 36-yearold Serb, who can break the men’s mark for most Slam titles he currently shares with Rafael Nadal, the 14-time French Open winner sidelined by a bad hip. “But I managed to hold my nerves and played pretty much a perfect tiebreak.”
Next came Alcaraz, a onetime major champ seeded No. 1, in Court Suzanne Lenglen, facing 159th-ranked qualifier Flavio Cobolli, a 21-year-old from Florence, Italy.
Alcaraz held three match points to close things at 5-3 in the third set but couldn’t convert then found himself at 5-all minutes later. Not surprisingly, he quickly righted himself and won 6-0, 6-2, 7-5.
Before the start of the tournament, Djokovic called Alcaraz the logical pick to take the trophy, given his recent form on clay: 21-2 as of yesterday, with three titles. Hard to argue.
On the other hand, Djokovic also noted that he loves the bestof-five-set format of majors and not-so-accidentally mentioned the 22-1 gap in such championships.
Other seeded men advancing on Day 2 in Paris included No. 12 Frances Tiafoe, No. 14 Cam Norrie, No. 15 Borna Coric, No. 18 Alex de Minaur, No. 19 Roberto Bautista Agut, and No. 26 Denis Shapovalov. Among the seeded women moving into the second round: No. 5 Caroline Garcia, No. 14 Beatriz Haddad Maia, No. 20 Madison Keys, and No. 22 Donna Vekic.
Seeds on the way out included No. 12 Belinda Bencic and No. 16 Karolina Pliskova in the women’s bracket and No. 10 Felix AugerAliassime, and No. 25 Botic Van de Zandschulp in the men’s.
Part of the group of past Grand Slam champions who won yesterday was Stan Wawrinka and Sloane Stephens.
Wawrinka edged Albert RamosVinolas 7-6 (5), 6-4, 6-7 (2), 1-6, 6-4 across more than 4 1/2 hours, while 2017 U.S. Open title winner Stephens defeated two-time major finalist Pliskova 6-0, 6-4.