Spanish
Paris (EFE).- Spaniard Carlos Alcaraz successfully began the defense of his title at Roland Garros, after comfortably defeating Italian Giulio Zeppieri, who came from the qualifying rounds, by 6-3, 6-4 and 6-2, in one hour and 56 minutes.
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The 22-year-old champion was far superior to a 23-year-old rival, ranked 310th, who has never defeated a top-10 player and was seeking to advance past the first round in Paris for the third time in his career.
“I played a solid match, the first match of a Grand Slam is never easy, especially when you are the defending champion,” the Spaniard said on the court.
“But I have managed to focus on my tennis, I have maintained the level and I am very proud of the way I have started this Roland Garros tournament,” he added.
The champion delivered in his 'exile' to the Suzanne Lenglen court, the second most important in the complex, a mandatory step for all the favorites that did not pose a great problem for the Spaniard, very focused and solid in his game to sign his 19th victory in Paris, the eighth consecutive, where he only has three defeats.
Alcaraz has never lost his first match in his 17 Grand Slam appearances, adding his sixteenth victory on clay this season, in which he has only one defeat, in the Barcelona final against the Dane Holger Rune, who faced physical problems that prevented him from playing in Madrid.
On the way, the Murcian has signed up for the tournaments in Monte Carlo and Rome to record a statistic of 27 wins on clay since May of last year, with only two defeats.
Alcaraz favorito
Favorite to win the title, and become the first tennis player to revalidate it since Rafael Nadal in the 2020 season, Alcaraz showed a high degree of solidity, a good sign to face what remains of the competition.
His second-round opponent will be Hungarian Fabian Marozsan, 25 years old and number 56 in the ranking, who defeated him in the 2023 Rome tournament but whom he beat in last year's Indian Wells.
