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Defending champion Carlos Alcaraz overcame a blip in form to beat Fabian Marozsan and reach the French Open third round – but former finalists Stefanos Tsitsipas and Casper Ruud are out.
Spaniard Alcaraz started strongly but dropped the second set before recovering to wrap up a 6-1 4-6 6-1 6-2 win over his Hungarian opponent.
But there was no such fortune for Greek 20th seed Tsitsipas, who was stunned by world number 167 Matteo Gigante of Italy, losing 6-4 5-7 6-2 6-4.
Ruud, twice a runner-up in Paris, struggled with injury during the closing stages of his four-set loss to Nuno Borges of Portugal.
Victory was Alcaraz’s 17th in 18 matches on clay this year as he looks to become the first man since compatriot Rafael Nadal in 2020 to retain the Roland Garros title.
“In the second set, he started to play much better and he was really aggressive. He didn’t miss at all so it was a little difficult to deal with his game in the second set,” said the 22-year-old.
“But I’m really happy I stayed strong and refreshed myself. I started to play better and better which helped me have a really good last two sets.”
Alcaraz won titles in Monte Carlo and Rome in the build-up to the French Open and mirrored that form at the start as he broke three times to win the first set inside 28 minutes.
Marozsan, looking to reach the third round at Roland Garros for the first time, broke early in a scrappy second set before fending off the second seed to level.
But Alcaraz – a four-time Grand Slam champion – responded well to breeze through the rest of the match.
He will face unseeded Damir Dzumhur in the third round after the Bosnian’s 7-6 (7-4) 6-3 4-6 6-4 win over France’s 31st seed Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard.
Tsitsipas suffers another early Grand Slam exit
It was another early Grand Slam exit for Tsitsipas, who lost in the 2021 final to Novak Djokovic in an epic five-setter.
The 26-year-old has now failed to make it past the second round in his past four appearances at a major, while it is his earliest defeat at Roland Garros since 2018.
The defeat means Tsitsipas is set to drop outside of the world’s top 20 for the first time since August 2018.
By claiming the biggest win of his career, Gigante – who is making his debut at the French Open after going through qualifying – is rewarded with a third-round meeting with American 13th seed Ben Shelton.
Elsewhere, American duo Tommy Paul and Frances Tiafoe made it through to the last 32 in differing circumstances.
Paul, the 12th seed, pulled off an impressive comeback after being two sets down to beat Hungary’s Marton Fucsovics 4-6 2-6 6-3 7-5 6-4.
Paul will face Russian 24th seed Karen Khachanov, who booked his place in round three with a 7-5 3-6 7-5 4-6 6-2 win against Austria’s Sebastian Ofner.
Tiafoe, the 15th seed, was a 6-4 6-3 6-1 winner against Pablo Carreno Busta of Spain.
In the evening session on Court Philippe Chatrier, Danish 10th seed Holger Rune cruised past American world number 138 Emilio Nada 6-3 7-6 (7-5) 6-3.
Meanwhile, Lorenzo Musetti, the Italian eighth seed, went through to the third round with a 6-4 6-0 6-4 win against Colombia’s Daniel Galan.
In the men’s doubles competition, Jacob Fearnley, who won his first French Open singles match on Monday, safely cruised into the second round alongside Canadian Gabriel Diallo with a 6-0 6-2 win over Nicolas Barrientos and Rithvik Bollipalli of Colombia and India respectively.
Briton Luke Johnson reached the second round of a Grand Slam for just the third time as he and his Dutch partner Sander Arends beat Marcelo Demoliner and Nicolas Jarry 3-6 6-3 7-6 (10-6).