Former finalists Stéfanos Tsitsipás and Casper Ruud were surprisingly eliminated in the second round of Roland Garros on Wednesday. Defending champion Carlos Alcaraz did reach the third round in Paris.
Tsitsipás lost in four sets to Matteo Gigante: 6-4, 5-7, 6-2 and 6-4. It caused enormous joy for the 23-year-old Italian, who is 167th in the world rankings. The 26-year-old Tsitsipás was once the world number three, but has now dropped to twentieth position. In 2021, the Greek reached the final of Roland Garros, in which he lost to Novak Djokovic.
The seventh-seeded Ruud lost in four sets to Nuno Borges from Portugal: 2-6, 6-4, 6-1 and 6-0. The Norwegian won the first set 6-2, but increasingly suffered from a leg injury.
After losing the second set, Ruud won only one more game against the number 41 in the world rankings.
Ruud reached the final of the Grand Slam tournament in Paris twice. In 2022 he lost to Rafael Nadal. A year later, Djokovic was too strong. Last year, the semi-final was the final stop for Ruud.
Alcaraz wins in four sets
Alcaraz beat the Hungarian Fábián Marozsán in four sets on Wednesday. The Spaniard got off to a good start and won the first set 6-1. In the second set, Marozsán (ATP-56) recovered by immediately breaking Alcaraz. The number two in the world could no longer make up for this deficit.
The 22-year-old Alcaraz seemed to wake up and then pulled the victory over the line within an hour. He easily won the third set and used his first match point after more than two hours of play: 6-1, 4-6, 6-1 and 6-2.
In the next round, Alcaraz will meet Damir Dzumhur, who was too strong for Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard in four sets: 7-6 (4), 6-3, 4-6 and 6-4. Last year, Alcaraz won Roland Garros for the first time by winning the final against Alexander Zverev.