French Open: Carlos Alcaraz, Stefanos Tsitsipas, Ons Jabeur reach third round

Paris: Spain’s Carlos Alcaraz reached the French Open third round but suffered a worrying loss of form midway through his match against Dutch qualifier Jesper de Jong before winning 6-3 6-4 2-6 6-2 on Wednesday.

The third seed was forced to work hard for a two-set lead under the Court Philippe Chatrier roof, but 176th-ranked De Jong refused to be intimidated and extended the match as Alcaraz suffered a third-set slump.

An error-strewn Alcaraz continued to struggle as the first four games of the fourth set all went against serve, with the 21-year-old becoming increasingly frustrated on the court.

Alcaraz regained some control in the nick of time to hold serve for a 3-2 lead, and he broke De Jong in the next game as his gritty opponent finally began to run out of steam.

There was some relief as Alcaraz accelerated towards victory, and De Jong netted a forehand after a little more than three hours to end an absorbing contest.

The 2021 Roland Garros finalist Stefanos Tsitsipas of Greece encountered some anxious moments but found a way to reach the third round in Paris for the sixth time, beating a resilient Daniel Altmaier under the roof on Court Suzanne Lenglen. In a hard-fought second-round men’s singles match, Tsitsipas overcame his 25-year-old German opponent 6-3, 6-2, 6-7(2), 6-4 in two hours and 45 minutes.

Tsitsipas broke in the fourth game of set one and dropped just six points on serve in the opening set. The Greek then pegged the accelerator, reeling off five games from 5-2 in the opener to lead 6-3, 4-0. He jumped to a two-sets-to-love lead in just about an hour. But just when it looked like he would romp to a straight-sets win, the German mounted a comeback, posing significant challenges for Tsitsipas.

Just three days after defeating Laslo Djere in the longest match of the first round (5:04), Altmaier surged to life in the third set, summoning his very best to throw Tsitsipas off the victory trail. The 83rd-ranked Altmaier, who took out then-world No.8 Matteo Berrettini to reach the round of 16 in the 2020 French Open, struck gold in the third-set tiebreak, playing a series of breathtaking points to claim the stanza.

In the fourth set, the struggle continued, a trade of breaks leaving the antagonists on serve at 4-4, before Tsitsipas kicked into overdrive and powered through the finish line, finally dashing Altmaier’s hopes in two hours and 43 minutes.

Ninth seed Ons Jabeur survived a scare as he came through a bruising three-set encounter against Colombia's Camila Osorio to book a place in the women's third round. The Tunisian star advanced on Parisian clay with a 6-3, 1-6, 6-3 victory as  she improved to 3-0 over Osorio in their head-to-head series.

While rain had stopped play on the outside courts, Jabeur bolted out of the blocks under the roof on Court Suzanne-Lenglen to take a 3-0 lead in just seven minutes. The 77th-ranked Osorio stopped the rot as she strung together three straight games. But the Tunisian soon took control of the proceedings though the going was not as soon as Jabeur would have hoped as she struggled with her serve.

Jabeur failed to register an ace and landed just 54 per cent of first serves, from which she claimed just 60 per cent of points. The eighth seed faced break points in 13 games, of which she dropped serve six times. Fortunately, she was equally effective at breaking her opponent (six from nine converted) and had few difficulties serving out the contest after an hour and 45 minutes.

Bidding to make her first third round at a Grand Slam this year, Jabeur's control and accuracy dipped in the second set to let the battling Colombian back in the mix. After striking 12 winners to 9 unforced errors in the first set, Jabeur hit 11 winners to 15 unforced errors in the second. Osorio seized her opportunity, taking control with more aggressive hitting to win her first set in five tries against Jabeur.

Alexander Bublik beat Grégoire Barrère 6-4, 7-5, 6-3 while 6th seed Andrey Rublev beat Pedro Martínez 6-3, 6-4, 6-3 to reach the third round.

Former French Open runner-up Sofia Kenin continued her resurgence with a straight sets upset of No.21 seed Caroline Garcia to reach the third round. The 56th-ranked American had a disastrous start to 2024, winning just one of her first 11 matches. But on Wednesday, Kenin, who found her groove in style in Rome, upsetting Ons Jabeur en route to the third round, romped to a 6-3, 6-3 victory in 1 hour and 25 minutes on a rain-interrupted day in the French capital.

Kenin will next face either No.9 seed and 2017 champion Jelena Ostapenko or Clara Tauson as she bids to make the second week of a major for the first time since Roland Garros 2021.

In other match, Paula Badosa beat Katie Boulter 4-6, 7-5, 6-4. Agencies

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