Carlos Alcaraz fought back from a slip-up in the second set against Hungary’s Fábián Marozsán to reach the French Open third round, eventually winning 6-1, 4-6, 6-1, 6-2.
After a strong start, Alcaraz wavered in the second set and Marozsán pounced to level the scores, but the Spaniard soon stepped it up a gear to close out the match.
One shot in particular in the third set highlighted the new level Alcaraz, the defending champion in Paris, quickly found.
After chasing down an angled shot from Marozsán, Alcaraz flicked his wrist and crushed an unusual, one-handed, backhand passing shot, which just skimmed over the net and caught the line.
Marozsán, hands on hips, turned to look at Alcaraz in bewilderment before a rueful smile crept across his face. Alcaraz stood there admiring the shot with a broad grin.
Clearly in a good mood after his performance, Alcaraz led the French Open crowd in the famous chant, taken from the pasodoble “En Er Mundo,” that can be heard across Roland Garros throughout the tournament’s two weeks.
“One thing, one thing. I always wanted to do (this). I hope everyone follows me: popopopopopopo pololoooo!” Alcaraz sung, with the crowd responding with an: “Olééé!”
“It was a great, great match. I played well in the first set,” Alcaraz said, per the ATP. “I had really high confidence. In the second set, he started to play much better, really aggressively and didn’t miss at all.
“It was a little bit difficult dealing with his game in the second set, but I was pleased to stay strong and refresh in the third set and I started to play better and better. I had a really good last two sets.”
There appear to be no lingering effects of the adductor injury that kept Alcaraz from competing in his home Masters 1000 tournament in Madrid last month, as he showcased all of his speed and agility around the court against Marozsán. Alcaraz has also ditched the leg strapping he used in his title run at the Italian Open.
Alcaraz, the French Open No. 2 seed behind Jannik Sinner, will face Bosnia’s Damir Džumhur in the third round on Friday when he continues his quest to become the first man to defend a French Open title since idol Rafael Nadal in 2020.
Big names crash out of Roland Garros
There were some high-profile casualties in the second round as No. 7 seed and two-time French Open finalist Casper Ruud was knocked out by Portugal’s Nuno Borges.
The unseeded Borges won 2-6, 6-4, 6-1, 6-0 and Ruud – who was playing through a knee injury – criticized a “questionable” points system which “forces players to show up injured or sick.”
“It’s kind of like a rat race when it comes to the rankings,” Ruud said.
“You feel you’re obligated to play with certain rules that the ATP have set up with the mandatory events. You feel like you lose a lot if you don’t show up and play, both economically, point-wise, ranking-wise and opportunity-wise.”
CNN Sports has reached out to the ATP for comment.
Elsewhere, 2021 French Open finalist Stefanos Tsitsipas was beaten by unseeded Italian Matteo Gigante.
The 23-year-old Gigante claimed an impressive 6-4, 5-7, 6-2, 6-4 win to reach the third round of a grand slam for the first time in his career.
Tsitsipas, the No. 20 seed this year, is set to fall out of the world’s top 20 for the first time since 2018 as he continues to struggle with form.
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