(May 26, 2025) Defending champion and No. 2 seed Carlos Alcaraz used his all-court game to dismiss Italian qualifier Giulio Zeppieri 6-3 6-4 6-2 and reach the second round of the French Open on Monday.
The win sets up a second-round meeting with Hungary’s Fabian Marozsan.
“It was really solid, the first round of a Grand Slam is never easy, especially coming here as the defending champion,” Alcaraz said in his on-court interview.
The Spaniard has now won 16 of his 17 tour-level matches on clay this year.
“It was really, really solid,” said Alcaraz. “The first round of the tournament is never easy, coming here as the defending champion could be even tougher. But I just started pretty well, and kept my good pace during the whole match. I tried to be focused on my game, to get a good rhythm.
“I’m just really proud of my start here at Roland Garros, where I was really excited to play my first match this year.”
American Taylor Fritz ecame the highest seed to be ousted at the French open on Monday.
The world No.4 and US Open finalist dropped 12 out of the last 16 games played during his 7-5, 3-6, 6-3, 6-1, loss to No. 47 Daniel Altmaier of Germany.
“It’s really strange. I feel like since between Rome, Geneva and here (Paris), my movement on court is really bad,” Fritz said.
“I don’t know what’s going on. A lot of times when I’m sliding, I’m off balance, I’m not timing it correctly. I’m getting wrong-footed a lot, and slipping a lot.”
“Physically, I don’t feel that bad. I misjudged earlier in the week the level my ankle was at. Rolled it in Geneva but it’s definitely not the reason why I lost.”
Fritz hit 41 unforced errors and won only 25 out of 52 points behind his second serve. It is the first time he has lost his opening match at a major tournament since the 2022 US Open when he was shocked by Brandon Holt.
“I’m not converting big points, not playing big points well, the only way to get rid of that is to have a match or a couple of matches where that just doesn’t happen and I perform well on some of those points.”
“Overall I don’t think I’m playing bad 90% of the match by any means. I think for 90% of the match I’m playing normally. It’s the 10% which ultimately decides the tennis match, the really big points where it matters.” He added.
