Alcaraz wins under centre court roof as rain destroys schedule at French Open

Third seed Carlos Alcaraz advanced to the third round at the French Open on Wednesday following a four-set win over the unseeded Dutchman Jesper de Jong.

Alcaraz won the encounter 6-3, 6-4, 2-6, 6-2 in just over three hours on Court Philippe Chatrier.

The Spaniard went into the clash as the overwhelming favourite against a player ranked at 176 in the world who was playing in the main draw at the French Open for the first time.

The form book was observed in the opening set. Alcaraz broke twice to claim it.

De Jong, who came through three qualifying matches and a five-set first round tie, played with more assurance in the second set but faltered when serving to level at 5-5.

The 23-year-old recovered his composure swiftly to break the service of Alcaraz on two occasions and claim the third set 6-2.

Alcaraz aided the momentum with another sloppy service game at the start of the fourth set to give De Jong the lead. But De Jong was equally munificent and dropped his own service. 

The pair traded another set of breaks to leave the set level at 2-2.

Fortunes

Sensing a nail-biter in the offing, the fans on centre court increased the cheers for the underdog.

But Alcaraz held service to inject a modicum of normality into the proceedings.

Last year's semi-finalist broke again to lead 4-2 lead and from there he drove home his advantage to collect the set and the match.

"In this kind of tournament every player can cause you trouble," Alcaraz told the on-court interviewer Alex Corretja.

"You have to be focused and it really doesn't matter if you are playing someone who is outside the top 100. You have to play at your best to get through.

"Jesper has the level to keep going and I'm sure he'll break into the top 100 very soon."

With rain ravaging Wednesday's schedule and causing the cancellation of the day's matches, Alcaraz is unlikely to find out the identity of his third round opponent before Thursday afternoon.

Acceptance

In the other men's tie, ninth seed Stefanos Tsitsipas reached the third round. The 2021 runner-up beat the unseeded German Daniel Altmaier in four sets under the roof onCourt Suzanne Lenglen.

Tsitsipas showed fortitude to come back from a break down in the fourth set to prevail 6-3, 6-2, 6-7, 6-4.

"A break of serve on clay, of course it's an advantage but it's not the biggest advantage," said the 25-year-old Greek of his fourth-set comeback.

"I can still fight my way through it. I think what I did at that point was try to calm myself about the situation and maybe accept what's happening.

"Acceptance was the thing that helped me find my way back to the winning spot again."

In the women's draw, home hope Caroline Garcia lost in straight sets to the 2020 runner-up Sofia Kenin.

The 25-year-old American beat the 21st seed 6-3, 6-3 to move into the third round.

Eighth seed Ons Jabeur also advanced. The 29-year-old Tunisian saw off the Colombian Maria Osorio 6-3, 1-6, 6-3.