Alcaraz sweeps past Wolf to reach second round at French Open
Third seed Carlos Alcaraz breezed into the second round at the French Open on Sunday with a straight sets win over JJ Wolf from the United States.
Alcaraz skipped the Italian Open in Rome to nurse a muscle strain in his right forearm and he wore strapping over the affected area during his match on centre court with the world number 107.
Showing no evident signs of discomfort, the 2023 semi-finalist raced through the opener 6-1. Wolf was equally submerged in the second set. The 21-year-old Spaniard claimed that 6-2 to take control of the encounter.
With rain forecast, the roof over the centre court was closed for the third set. But the move only brought different acoustics to the encounter as the downpour pounded the roof and Alcaraz copied the elements.
Alcaraz secured a double break to lead 4-1 and he got the next two games to complete his competitive return to the courts since 1 May in one hour and 51 minutes.
Early disappointment for France
"I would have liked to play more matches," Alcaraz told on-court interviewer Mats Wilander.
"But I don't think I need many matches to get back to my level. It's been a difficult month," he added.
"I love competing and playing tennis and staying away from that is difficult for me. But I've done everything to be ready to be here at Roland Garros."
Elsewhere in the bottom half of the men's draw, tenth seed Grigor Dimitrov enjoyed a straight sets win over the American Aleksandar Kovacevic while sixth seed Andrey Rublev disposed of Taro Daniel in four sets.
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