Alcaraz up & running at Roland Garros, Djokovic advances
CARLOS Alcaraz wasted little time getting his Roland Garros title quest underway on Monday when he raced past Italian Flavio Cobolli 6-0, 6-2, 7-5 to reach the French Open second round.
The 20-year-old Alcaraz is the top seed at a Grand Slam for the first time and the youngest in Paris since a then-19-year-old Bjorn Borg in 1976. The Spaniard showed little sign of nerves in his opening match, though, timing his clean groundstrokes perfectly to overpower the 21-year-old qualifier Cobolli in the baseline exchanges.
“It is great to play here. It is my first time on SuzanneLenglen and I enjoyed playing here,” Alcaraz said. “There was such great energy from the crowd and I came out with a great level.”
Alcaraz showed off his variety on Court Suzanne-Lenglen by repeatedly pulling Cobolli around with the drop shot, while he survived an attacking bombardment from the 21-year-old in the third set. The World No. 1 recovered from failing to serve out the match at 5-4, soaking up pressure to immediately break Cobolli’s serve
before advancing on his fifth match point.
“It is not too good when losing your serve at 5-4,” Alcaraz said. “But I had to overcome that and forget that. I think I forgot it really quick and I played a great level from 5-5.”
The Spaniard is chasing a second Grand Slam title and first in Paris this fortnight, having triumphed at the US Open
last year. He will continue his bid against Taro Daniel after the Japanese player beat Australian Christopher O’Connell 6-0, 6-2, 6-4.
With his one-hour, 58-minute victory, the 2022 quarterfinalist Alcaraz improved to 31-3 on the season. He has captured four tour-level trophies this year, including ATP Masters 1000 crowns in Indian
Wells and Madrid.
Cobolli was making his Grand Slam debut after coming through qualifying. The World No. 159, currently seventh in the ATP Live Next Gen Race, was facing a Top 10 opponent for the first time.
Djokovic brushes past Kovacevic
Earlier, Novak Djokovic made an imperious start to his bid for a record 23rd major crown on Monday at Roland Garros, where the Serbian dispatched Aleksandar Kovacevic 6-3, 6-2, 7-6(1) on Court Philippe Chatrier.
Kovacevic made a confident start to his Grand Slam main draw debut, but he was unable to hold his illustrious opponent back after Djokovic claimed the first break of the match in the sixth game. Despite a third-set turnaround in which the American rallied from 3-5 to force a tie-break, Djokovic held firm to complete a first-round win in which he converted five of his 12 break points and struck 41 winners to Kovacevic’s 25.
Norrie defeats Paire in five-set thriller
Cameron Norrie earned a dramatic first-round win clawing past Frenchman Benoit Paire in a five-set thriller.
The British lefty fought hard throughout the threehour, 36-minute clash, triumphing 7-5, 4-6, 3-6, 6-1, 6-4.
The 14th seed showed great agility to handle Paire’s court craft and he rallied from 2-4 in the fifth set, demonstrating his high fitness levels to defeat former World No. 18 Paire, who was backed by vocal home support on Court Suzanne-Lenglen.
“It was an amazing match and all credit to Benoit, he played really well,” Norrie said.
Fpgnini upsets Felix
Fabio Fognini gave a stark reminder of his ability on clay with a straight-sets upset of 10th seed Felix Auger-Aliassime.
Making his 15th consecutive main draw appearance at Roland Garros, the 2011 quarter-finalist sealed a 6-4, 6-4, 6-3 triumph for his fifth tour-level triumph of the season. Fognini, who defeated former World No. 1 Andy Murray en route to the third round in Rome two weeks ago, converted eight of his nine break points to wrap a two-hour, 17-minute win on Court Simonne-Mathieu.
Wawrinka claws past Ramos-Vinolas
Stan Wawrinka’s champion’s spirit came to the fore on Monday at Roland Garros.
The 2015 champion narrowly avoided a second consecutive first-round exit at the clay-court major when he battled past Spaniard Albert Ramos-Vinolas 7-6(5), 6-4, 6-7(2), 1-6, 6-4.
The Swiss needed four hours and 35 minutes to take an 8-0 head-to-head series lead against the lefty.