Second seed Carlos Alcaraz kicked off his tournament with a 7-5, 6-1 victory over Chile’s Nicolas Jarry to advance to the Round of 16 at the Rolex Paris Masters on Tuesday.
The young Spanish star, who had a bye in the first round, hit nine aces without a double fault and saved 5 of 6 break points. The match was close until Alcaraz broke a 1-1 tie in the second set and ran away with the last five games.
Jarry matched Alcaraz with 13 winners but committed 24 unforced errors to Alcaraz’s six.
“I think I played really good tennis (in the first set), but at the end it was complicated,” said Alcaraz, who led the first set 5-2 before Jarry rallied to tie it 5-5. “I’m just really happy to get through the opening set. It was really important for me to come into the second with more confidence. I (need) time to get used to the speed of the court.”
Alcaraz, who won an ATP 500 title in Beijing earlier this month, has never been further than the quarterfinals in Paris.
Three other Round of 32 matches were played Tuesday, featuring two upsets.
Francisco Cerundolo of Argentina eliminated No. 6 seed Andrey Rublev of Russia 7-6 (6), 7-6 (5). Australia’s Jordan Thompson upset No. 7 seed Casper Ruud of Norway 7-6 (3), 3-6, 6-4, as Ruud committed 53 unforced errors. But No. 10 seed Stefanos Tsitsipas of Greece made it through, needing about 67 minutes to dispatch Chilean Alejandro Tabilo 6-3, 6-4.
The Round of 64 also concluded Tuesday with 11 matches.
France’s Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard, a wild card into the tournament, surprised No. 14 seed Frances Tiafoe 6-7 (5), 7-6 (4), 6-3. Mpetshi Perricard won last week at the Swiss Indoors Basel as an unseeded player and stayed in form Tuesday, firing 28 aces past Tiafoe while enduring 13 double faults.
“It means a lot to win in front of a French crowd,” Mpetshi Perricard said. “It was an amazing match for me. I did some good things, some bad things at times but it happens. The most important thing is the win and now I need to be focused.”
Alex Michelsen made quick work of No. 12 seed Hubert Hurkacz of Poland, winning 6-1, 6-3 in 51 minutes. Germany’s Jan-Lennard Struff upset Italian No. 16 seed Lorenzo Musetti 6-4, 6-2.
Winning in straight sets were No. 9 seed Alex de Minaur of Australia, No. 13 seed Holger Rune of Denmark, Belgian lucky loser Zizou Bergs, Great Britain’s Jack Draper, Frenchman Arthur Fils and Australian Alexei Popyrin.
Russia’s Karen Khachanov saved a match point in the third-set tiebreak en route to beating Australian Christopher O’Connell 6-4, 3-6, 7-6 (6). Ben Shelton outlasted French qualifier Corentin Moutet 6-3, 6-7 (8), 6-3.
–Field Level Media
