Top favorite Carlos Alcaraz is with the French Open advanced to the third round. World ranking fifth Stefanos Tsitsipas also won his second round match. For Stan Wawrinka, on the other hand, the French Open is over.
Top favorite Carlos Alcaraz only stumbled briefly on his way to the third round of the French Open. In a duel with the Japanese Taro Daniel, the world number one surprisingly lost a set, but ultimately won 6:1, 3:6, 6:1, 6:2. In gusty winds, both showed some spectacular rallies on the Philipp-Chartrier court. The world number one Alcaraz was unimpressed by the loss of the first set in the tournament and continued on his way to the desired second Grand Slam-Title after the US Open 2022 onwards.
“Taro is playing very well this year, it was really difficult for me – also because of the wind”, said Alcaraz, who is aiming for the title in Roland Garros in the absence of clay court king and compatriot Rafael Nadal: “It’s great to play here in Paris. I feel the support of the fans.”
Next up for the Spaniard is 26th seed Denis Shapovalov of Canada.
Tsitsipas further, Wawrinka out
Fifth in the world rankings, Stefanos Tsitsipas, also easily progressed one lap. The Greek made short work of the Spaniard Roberto Carballes Baena at 6: 3, 7: 6 (7: 4), 6: 2 in the morning. After 2:16 hours, Tsitsipas converted his first match point and now meets Argentinian Diego Schwartzman.
Stan Wawrinka (38) is no longer in the running for his second Paris title after 2015 after more than four and a half hours of spectacular fighting. The old Swiss champion lost in the witches’ cauldron “Simonne Mathieu” 6: 3, 5: 7, 3: 6, 7: 6 (7: 4), 3: 6 against the Australian Thanasi Kokkinakis. Towards the end, Wawrinka, who was passionately supported by the ranks and had already gone the full distance in the first lap, lost his strength a bit.
Djokovic with some difficulty against Fucsovics
After the fuss about his political message at the French Open, Novak Djokovic has reached the third round with some initial problems. The 36-year-old Serbian tennis star defeated the Hungarian Marton Fucsovics after 2:44 hours 7: 6 (7: 2), 6: 0, 6: 3. The first run alone lasted 88 minutes.
In the round of the top 32, Djokovic now wants to continue on his way to the 23rd Grand Slam title against Alejandro Davidovich Fokina from Spain and thus to the sole record ahead of Rafael Nadal.
In terms of sport, Djokovic initially found it difficult and had to give up his serve for the first time with a double fault to make it 5: 4. He later scolded his team in the stands. In the tie-break, the outsider Fucsovics received an ovation from the audience for winning a fascinating rally to make it 2:4. However, Djokovic remained unimpressed and took the important first set. After that he largely dominated.