IMAGES from the French Open matches played at Roland Garros on Wednesday.
Defending champion Carlos Alcaraz deftly handled a dangerous opponent at the French Open when he defeated unseeded Hungarian Fabian Marozsan 6-1 4-6 6-1 6-2 to charge into the third round on Wednesday.
Spaniard Alcaraz was toppled by Marozsan on the claycourts of Rome two years ago and had moments of vulnerability on Court Philippe-Chatrier but the 22-year-old ensured there would be no unwanted encore ending his bid for a fifth Grand Slam title.
"It was a great match. I started playing well. In the first set, I had really high confidence. In the second set, he started to play much better and he was really aggressive," Alcaraz said.
"He didn't miss at all so it was a little difficult to deal with his game in the second set but I'm really happy I stayed strong and refreshed myself.
"In the third set, I started to play better and better which helped me have a really good last two sets... I just want to show good tennis. I want to make sure people are happy watching my match as well. That's the way I enjoy playing tennis."
Playing beneath the centre court roof on a soggy Parisian afternoon, Alcaraz rained blows upon his 56th-ranked opponent to go ahead 4-0 and easily claimed the opening set despite stepping off the gas.
Marozsan dug deeper into his bag of tricks and found some exquisite drop shots that nearly earned him a double break in the second set before the 25-year-old confirmed the shift in momentum by levelling the contest.
Alcaraz cranked up the intensity of his muscular ballet on the red dirt and took control of the match by winning the third set but his electric tennis became erratic again in the fourth as he traded breaks with Marozsan.
He got his nose in front again, however, and strangled the hopes of Marozsan with a sliding volley around the net en route to a 5-2 lead before prevailing to set up a clash with either Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard or Damir Dzumhur.
Swiatek crushes Raducanu to extend title bid
Four-time champion Iga Swiatek of Poland made light work of British Grand Slam winner Emma Raducanu in their French Open second round on Wednesday, notching up a 6-1 6-2 victory and stretching her winning run in Paris to 23 consecutive matches.
The world number five, looking to become the first woman in the professional era since 1968 to win four consecutive titles at the French Open, has now beaten the 2021 U.S. Open champion in all five of their meetings -- all the wins coming in straight sets.
She will next meet either Czech Sara Bejlek or Jaqueline Cristian of Romania.
"I just wanted to play my game," Swiatek said.
"I felt good on court. I thought I can do what I had planned to, adjust to the conditions because it was windy. I am happy that I did that well and I am through.
"Probably the top spin that I play," she said when asked about the reason for her success on the Parisian clay. "I love playing here. This place inspires me and makes me work harder. I am just ready to fight for it and compete."
The 22-year-old Raducanu, whose best result this season has been a quarter-final spot in Miami, briefly kept up with Swiatek at the start, with the Pole making eight unforced errors in the first three games.
Swiatek, however, pulled herself together, breaking the Briton twice to quickly gobble up the first set.
Swiatek, who has unusually not won a title so far this season, broke her opponent again early in the second set. Raducanu, ranked 41st, did carve out three break opportunities of her own, when she was trailing 2-1, but could not convert any of them.
With her opponent keeping up the pressure, Raducanu, who was sick prior to her first-round game earlier in the week, was easy prey and lost the last three games on the trot as Swiatek wrapped up the win with a stunning backhand down the line on her second match point.
Sabalenka shrugs off slow start to reach third round
World number one Aryna Sabalenka started off on the wrong foot before trampling Swiss Jil Teichmann into the French Open dirt with a 6-3, 6-1 win that propelled her into the Roland Garros third round on Wednesday.
Sabalenka began her bid for a maiden Paris crown by dropping only one game against Kamilla Rakhimova in the opening round but the 27-year-old from Belarus faced far more resistance against Teichmann, who grabbed an early break to pile on the pressure.
The tricky left-hander troubled Sabalenka throughout the early part of the opening set but the top seed composed herself and pulled level at 3-3, before breaking her unseeded opponent again in the eighth game and then taking control of the match.
"She started really well and played her best game. It's always tricky against her," said Sabalenka.
"Her variety is crazy... I was trying to find the rhythm and I'm glad I held my serve from 3-1 down. I got more energy. It was a tough match, she made me work for every point and I'm very happy for this win."
After going up a set, Sabalenka struck a stinging backhand winner to grab another break in the opening game of the second set and there was no doubt she would continue her imperious march through the French Open draw after she went 4-0 up.
She delivered the final blow in the form of a break in the seventh game, finishing when Teichmann sent a shot long, to set up a meeting with another left-hander in Olga Danilovic who downed Danielle Collins 6-4 3-6 6-4.
Musetti makes light work of lucky loser Galan
Italian Lorenzo Musetti continued his renaissance when he eased into the third round of the French Open with a no-nonsense 6-4, 6-0, 6-4, victory against Colombian lucky loser Daniel Galan on Wednesday.
The eighth-seeded Musetti's main trouble was intermittent rain on court Simonne Matthieu as he set up a meeting with Argentine Mariano Navone or Reilly Opelka of the U.S.
"It was a solid performance from the beginning until the end. I had some ups and downs during the first and the third set. Definitely I cannot complain about the level that I'm showing," Musetti, who reached the final at the Monte Carlo Masters and the last four in Madrid and Rome in the three big claycourt tournaments before Roland Garros, told reporters.
"The conditions today were not easy but I managed to find a way to show my tennis and my game. I think we made a great, great match."
Musetti said things had started clicking into place after the Monte Carlo Masters last month.
"After the final in Monte Carlo there was I think a boost of confidence, of something inside that I needed to have. That was probably the results, the thing that I achieved in Monte Carlo," said the world number seven, who has never made it past the fourth round at Roland Garros.
"It was a strange week because every match I came back from a set down. Many, many times I was really close to losing the match.
"Definitely I think after that I felt like another player also in the daily routine and I know better what I have to do. Of course, also the results in Madrid and Rome, they were like the confirmation of this step forward that I made."
A Galan double fault in the third game handed Musetti the first break and the Italian opened up a 5-2 lead after aggressive play helped him to steal his opponent's serve again.
The Colombian pulled back a break in the eighth game as Musetti's serve wobbled. But Musetti saw off another break as he served for the set, which he bagged with a commanding smash.
He then stepped up a gear, allowing Galan only five points in the second set and while the Colombian offered more in the third, there was no comeback as Musetti wrapped it up on serve.
Paolini, Zheng march forth
Fourth seed Paolini, a surprise runner-up last year, barely put a foot wrong on Court Philippe Chatrier as she brushed aside Australia's Ajla Tomljanovic 6-3 6-3 after paying homage to the venue's greatest champion Rafa Nadal.
The diminutive Italian, who trains with Nadal's former mentor Marc Lopez, touched the newly installed footprint of the Spanish great on centre court before delivering a polished display in front of a sparse crowd.
"It was great to play again there," said Paolini.
"It's an amazing court and I'm happy how I played, because I played better than the first round which is good. I'm just happy about the performance."
China's Zheng Qinwen, the Paris 2024 Olympics champion on these courts, powered past Emiliana Arango of Colombia 6-2 6-3 as the eighth seed's big-hitting game proved too much for the world number 85.
She now faces Canadian 18-year-old qualifier Victoria Mboko, who extended her fairytale run with a 6-4 6-4 win over Germany's Eva Lys in her Grand Slam debut.
Earlier, former French Open semi-finalist and 16th seed Amanda Anisimova brushed aside Switzerland's Viktorija Golubic 6-0 6-2 in 55 minutes to reach the third round while 13th seed Elina Svitolina beat Anna Bondar 7-6(4) 7-5.
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