Photo credit: Clive Brunskill/Getty
A jolting strike from Carlos Alcaraz dislodged a clump of clay near the baseline.
Striking with damaging intent, defending champion Alcaraz hammered the court and hit through qualifier Giulio Zeppieri 6-3, 6-4, 6-2.
"Well, today was a great match. I felt great hitting the balls, moving," Alcaraz told the media in Paris. "I think everything today was great.
"Obviously I expected worse level for me, honestly. First round for every tournament is never easy to adapt your game to the conditions and get used to it. I'm just really proud about it. Is great to have these feelings in the first round."
It is Alcaraz’s eighth straight win at Roland Garros and seventh straight dirt victory coming after he defeated world No. 1 Jannik Sinner to capture his maiden Rome championship earlier this month.
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Today, Alcaraz won 19 of 30 points played on the Italian’s second serve and broke four times in a tidy one hour, 56-minute victory.
Last night, Alcaraz sat side-by-side with fellow reigning champion Iga Swiatek to celebrate the tribute to their tennis hero, Rafael Nadal, on Court Philippe Chatrier.
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Opening his title defense on Court Suzanne Lenglen today, Alcaraz continued his red clay rampage.
Aiming to become the first man since Nadal in 2019-2020 to successfully defend his French Open crown, Alcaraz is now 28-2 on clay since last May. The only two men to defeat him on dirt in that span: Novak Djokovic in the Olympic gold-medal match staged at Roland Garros last August and to Holger Rune in last month’s Barcelona final.
The second-seeded Spaniard raised his 2025 record to 31-5, including 16-1 on dirt.
Next up for Alcaraz is a familiar foe: Fabian Marozsan.
The 56th-ranked Marozsan saved four of five break points in a 6-2, 6-3, 7-6(3) victory over Italian Luca Nardi.
Alcaraz has split two prior meetings with Marozsan and is well aware of his skill floating fluttering drop shots.
Hungarian qualifier Marozsan displaced the Spaniard with deep drives and dispensed doses of Alcaraz's drop-shot medicine against him crafting a shocking upset of Alcaraz at the 2023 Rome.
A calm and clever Marozsan streaked through six straight points stunning Alcaraz 6-3, 7-6(4) to snap the Spaniard's 12-match winning streak in Rome two years ago. Alcaraz swept Marozsan in their 2024 Indian Wells rematch.
Look for drop shot duels in their Roland Garros rematch as Alcaraz anticipates the soft stuff coming.
"Of course, let's say I study my opponents a little bit," Alcaraz told the media in Paris. "I know that Fabian likes to hit dropshots. So probably I put extra focus on that. I'm going to be ready for that. I try to keep my balls to make him in trouble to do it.
"So let's see. It's gonna be a dropshot battle, I guess (smiling). But let's see. It's going to be an interesting match, so I'll be ready for that from him."