The deviant Carlos Alcaraz had to dig deep to beat inspired qualifier Jesper de Jong and reach the third round of the French Open.
Spaniard Alcaraz looked subdued at times in a 6-3 6-4 2-6 6-2 win over a player 173 places below him.
The Dutchman De Jong played well above his ranking, but it was a rusty performance by Alcaraz, who had to come back from a break down twice in the fourth set.
“I prefer not to spend too much time on the pitch. I want to be in good shape for the next round, but every match is different,” Alcaraz said.
“I got into trouble at some points. Jesper and I put on a good show.”
Alcaraz will next face American Sebastian Korda or Kwon Soon-woo from South Korea.
Stefanos Tsitsipas, the 2022 runner-up, and Andrey Rublev won their matches, but they could not play on the outdoor courts due to persistent rain.
Second seed Jannik Sinner will play Richard Gasquet in the night session on Court Phillipe Chatrier – one of two courts at Roland Garros with a roof.
This was almost the exact opposite of Alcaraz’s dominant first-round win against lucky loser JJ Wolf.
The 21-year-old still had a compression sleeve on his right forearm – an injury that affected his preparation for Roland Garros – and his lack of match training showed.
After a relatively easy first two sets, it was as if Alcaraz’s concentration started to wander, often after a good shot, one of which sailed wide or found the net.
He made 47 unforced errors, most of them in the third set, while quickly getting a double break down.
It looked like the match could get even tougher for Alcaraz, as he was immediately broken at the start of the fourth set, again on a long forehand.
However, he seemed to participate again in the next match when he reached 30-30 on De Jong’s serve. His team did their best to cheer him on and when De Jong sent a forehand into the net, Alcaraz looked more like himself.
The two exchanged breaks again, with the score level at 2-2 before Alcaraz pulled away, helped by a tired De Jong, who defeated Briton Jack Draper in five sets in the first round.
However, Alcaraz will know that tougher tests await as he attempts to secure a third major title.
“The energy I got from the people to forget the third set and be at my best in the fourth set helped me a lot,” he added.
Tennis conversation with Badosa ‘a relief’ for Tsitsipas
Greek ninth seed Tsitsipas overcame a wobble in the third set to beat German Daniel Altmaier 6-3 6-2 6-7 (2-7) 6-4 and continue his bid for a maiden Grand Slam title.
Tsitsipas had a mixed start to the season, but won his third Monte Carlo Masters title and reached a second clay court final in Barcelona, where he lost to Casper Ruud.
He plans to play mixed doubles in Paris with his partner, former world number two Paula Badosa of Spain, and said the pair talk about tennis “all the time”.
“We both share the same passion and we both do the same thing in life,” said Tsitsipas, who will next play either Lorenzo Sonego or Zhang Zhizhen.
“So to have someone by your side who you love and who, in our case, can talk about tennis comfortably and mutually and reciprocally, I think is a relief.
“In my case, that person knows a lot about tennis and analyzes the game quite well.”
Russian sixth seed Rublev, playing under the roof on Court Suzanne Lenglen, won 6-3 6-4 6-3 against Spaniard Pedro Martinez.
