2023-05-29 18:34:49
Without forcing, Novak Djokovic and Carlos Alcaraz, the two big contenders for the title this year at Roland-Garros, easily won their first meeting of the tournament on Monday. In the women’s draw, the French Caroline Garcia qualified in pain against the Chinese Xiyu Wang.
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Successful start for the tournament favourites: Novak Djokovic, who is aiming for the record of 23 Grand Slam titles, negotiated his first match well on Monday May 29 at Roland-Garros while his main rival, Carlos Alcaraz, also easily qualified by crushing his opponent of the day in less than two hours.
“I’m happy. I started the tournament well and I hope to be able to raise my level”, commented the 36-year-old Serb, in French in front of the public at the Philippe-Chatrier court just after dismissing the American Aleksandar Kovacevic ( 114e world) 6-3, 6-2, 7-6 (7/1).
“I played the first two sets well, then I lost a bit of concentration, but he raised his level of play. In Grand Slams, the opponent does not give you the victory, you have to deserve it”, added the world number 3, who will face in the second round the Hungarian colossus Marton Fucsovics (83e).
The Serb now totals 86 victories at Roland-Garros, where only the master of the place Nadal, titled 14 times but absent this year, has done better (112).
His main challenger this year will certainly be the world number 1 Carlos Alcaraz, who easily beat on the Suzanne-Lenglen court the Italian Flavio Cobolli (159e and from qualifying) in three sets: 6-0, 6-2, 7-5.
“It’s great to play here, it’s a great court, there was great energy”, appreciated “Carlitos”, who “knew quickly to move on” when Cobolli delayed the deadline in the third set.
In the second round, Alcaraz will face the Japanese Taro Daniel (112e).
In the men’s draw, the start of this second day of the tournament was also marked by the defeat of Canadian Felix Auger-Aliassime (10e), physically diminished, against the Italian Fabio Fognini (130e) 6-4, 6-4, 6-3.
Frenchman Benoît Paire (149e and beneficiary of an invitation) also almost created a surprise since he had made the break in the fifth set against the Briton Cameron Norrie (13e) but eventually lost 7-5, 4-6, 3-6, 6-1, 6-4.
Norrie will face another Frenchman in the second round, the returning Lucas Pouille (675e and from qualifying), who has not played in the second round of a Major since the 2019 US Open.
Garcia au forceps
In the women’s draw, Caroline Garcia, 5e world, had great difficulty in her entry into the running, snatching the victory 7-6 (7/4), 4-6, 6-4 in 2 h 38 against the Chinese Xiyu Wang (64e).
Obviously very tense throughout the game, the Frenchwoman almost never managed to deploy her aggressive tennis.
“The match was really hooked, she has a very good game, she was full of confidence with a good result in Rome (defeat in the round of 16 while Garcia lost in the third round, editor’s note), there was a lot of wind …”, listed the 29-year-old Frenchwoman.
“But I tried to have the right attitude, to always be positive, to find solutions as I went along. I managed to keep this attitude when it had not been the case for the last few weeks. , so it’s a super positive point”, she analyzed.
In the next round, she will face Belarusian Anna Blinkova (56e).
For her part, Kristina Mladenovic (166e) could not make her invitation bear fruit: she lost at the start of the day against the American Kayla Day (138e) 7-5, 6-1.
Ukrainian Elina Svitolina, former 3e world player down to 192e rank after a one-year hiatus, knocked down Italy’s Martina Trevisan 6-2, 6-2 (26e), semi-finalist last year.
Drafted from the qualifications, the Russian Elina Avanesyan also offered herself a victory of choice at the expense of the 12e world champion Belinda Bencic and will find the French Léolia Jeanjean in the second round.
After the victory Sunday of Aryna Sabalenka (2e), the other two contenders for the title, Iga Swiatek (1re) et Elena Rybakina (4e), will play their first round on Tuesday.
With AFP
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