Last year's champion Carlos Alcaraz opened his French Open campaign with a 6-3, 6-4, 6-2 win over qualifier Giulio Zeppieri. The Spaniard, who is trying to become the first player to defend his Paris title since Rafael Nadal in 2020, has won 16 of his 17 clay court matches this season.
"I was solid in the first match. It's never easy in this round, especially for reigning champions, but I got off to a great start. I had a good pace throughout the match and I was focused," Alcaraz said, as quoted by atptour.com.
The Spaniard won the Monte Carlo and Rome titles to climbed to second place in the ATP rankings last week. In the second round in Paris, he will face Fabian Maroján, with the two sharing one win each in their two meetings at the ATP level.
Alcaraz is 28-2 on clay since last May, during which time he won the title at "Roland Garros" and earned a silver medal at the Paris Olympics.
Fourth-ranked Taylor Fritz suffered a surprise defeat against Daniel Altmaier, who is 62 places behind him. The American fell 5-7, 6-3, 3-6, 1-6 after two hours and 43 minutes of play, having converted only one of his five break points. The German, who will face Czech Vit Kopriva, managed five breaks and recorded 46 winners.
Kasper Ruud started his participation in this year's French Open with a 6-4, 6-4, 6-2 victory over Spaniard Albert Ramos. The Norwegian, who will face Nuno Borges in the second round, finished with seven aces and 34 winners, but committed 42 unforced errors during the two-hour match.
Stefanos Tsitsipas also skipped the first round in three sets, recording a 7-5, 6-3, 6-4 victory over Argentine Tomas Echeverri. The Greek tennis player, number 20 in the schedule, made 47 winners and recorded 12 aces in the victory in 2:36. He will meet Italian qualifier Matteo Gigante.