Novak Djokovic began his bid for a males’s document twenty third Grand Slam singles title with a straight-sets victory over Aleksandar Kovacevic within the French Open first spherical on Monday, as Carlos Alcaraz waited to open his match.
Two-time Roland Garros champion Djokovic held off a late rally from his American opponent on Court Philippe Chatrier to clinch a 6-3, 6-2, 7-6 (7/1) victory.
He has nonetheless not misplaced in his opening match of a serious because the 2006 Australian Open.
“I’m very motivated to stay in this tournament for a long time, it’s just the start now,” mentioned Djokovic after kicking off his nineteenth consecutive French Open marketing campaign.
“I’m happy. I’ve started well and hope I can improve further for the next match.”
The 36-year-old will face Hungarian Marton Fucsovics, who he has crushed 4 instances in as many conferences, within the second spherical.
Djokovic is barely seeded third at Roland Garros this 12 months regardless of the absence of his nice rival and 14-time winner Rafael Nadal by means of harm, behind world primary Alcaraz and Daniil Medvedev.
He is tied with Nadal for many males’s Slam singles trophies and only one behind the 23 of Serena Williams. Margaret Court holds the all-time document of 24.
Kovacevic, the world quantity 114 enjoying in his first Grand Slam match, battled arduous however couldn’t put Djokovic underneath sustained stress till it was too late.
One break within the sixth recreation was sufficient for the Serbian star to take the opening set, earlier than he raced by means of the second.
Djokovic broke to like to start out the third set earlier than saving three break factors within the second recreation.
Kovacevic did break for the primary time within the match to stage the set at 3-3, solely to drop serve once more instantly.
Djokovic uncharacteristically stumbled when serving for the match as Kovacevic pressured a tie-break to the delight of the group.
But the world quantity three rapidly regrouped, dominating the breaker earlier than ending Kovacevic’s resistance on his first match level with a thumping forehand return.
Canadian tenth seed Felix Auger-Aliassime suffered a 3rd defeat on the opening hurdle in 4 visits to Roland Garros as he misplaced 6-4, 6-4, 6-3 to Fabio Fognini.
The unpredictable Italian, who himself has misplaced within the first spherical six instances in 9 tournaments thus far this season, pulled off a shock win on Court Simonne Mathieu.
The world quantity 52 will subsequent face Australian Jason Kubler.
British 14th seed Cameron Norrie got here by means of a five-set thriller on Court Suzanne Lenglen to beat house wildcard Benoit Paire 7-5, 4-6, 3-6, 6-1, 6-4.
Last 12 months’s Wimbledon semi-finalist will tackle resurgent Frenchman Lucas Pouille for a third-round berth.
Canadian Denis Shapovalov scraped previous Brandon Nakashima 6-4, 7-5, 4-6, 3-6, 6-3.
Chinese hopes of a primary males’s singles match win on the French Open since 1937 have been dashed as Wu Yibing misplaced 7-6 (7/4), 6-1, 6-1 to Robert Bautista Agut and Shang Juncheng was crushed 4-6, 2-6, 6-2, 6-3, 6-1 by Juan Pablo Varillas.
Zhang Zhizhen is the third and last Chinese man in motion later Monday.
In the ladies’s draw, former runner-up Sloane Stephens dumped out sixteenth seed Karolina Pliskova 6-0, 6-4.
Russian Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, the shedding finalist in 2021, brushed apart Czech teenager Linda Fruhvirtova 6-2, 6-2.
Croatian twenty second seed Donna Vekic and American Madison Keys additionally secured their locations in spherical two.
Later Monday, Alcaraz begins his bid for a second Grand Slam title in opposition to Italian qualifier Flavio Cobolli, the world quantity 159 enjoying in a Grand Slam for the primary time.
Spaniard Alcaraz is the favorite to win the title within the absence of his compatriot Nadal and is slated to satisfy Djokovic within the semi-finals.
The 20-year-old has loved a high-quality clay-court season, successful the Madrid and Barcelona Opens, however did undergo a shock defeat to a participant from outdoors the highest 100 in opposition to Fabian Marozsan final outing in Rome.
Alcaraz exited within the quarter-finals in Paris 12 months in the past, shedding to Alexander Zverev.
“I would say he’s better than last year. I think he has more experience,” Alcaraz’s coach Juan Carlos Ferrero mentioned.
The US Open champion has by no means misplaced within the first spherical in his eight earlier Grand Slam appearances.
Ukraine’s Elina Svitolina will play her first match at a Slam occasion because the 2022 Australian Open in opposition to Martina Trevisan.
The former world quantity three has just lately returned to the tour following maternity depart, having beforehand taken a break from the game citing well being issues and psychological exhaustion following Russia’s invasion of her house nation.