PARIS: Spain’s Carlos Alcaraz reached the French Open third round but suffered a worrying loss of form midway through his match against Dutch qualifier Jesper de Jong before winning 6-3 6-4 2-6 6-2 on Wednesday.
Dutchman De Jong played well above his ranking but it was a rusty performance from Alcaraz, who had to twice come back from a break down in the fourth set.
“I prefer not to spend too much time on the court, I want to be in good shape for the next round but every match is different,” Alcaraz said. “I was in trouble at points. Jesper and I put on a good show.”
Alcaraz will face either American Sebastian Korda or Kwon Soon-woo of South Korea next.
Stefanos Tsitsipas, the 2022 runner-up, was among the winners on Wednesday but play on the outdoor courts was once again disrupted by rain. This was almost the exact opposite of third seed 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 which impacted his preparations for Roland Garros - and his lack of match practice showed.
After a relatively straightforward first two sets, it was as though Alcaraz’s concentration began to drift, often following a good shot with one that sailed wide or found the net.
He made 47 unforced errors, most of which came in the third set as he quickly went a double break down.
It looked as though the match could get even trickier for Alcaraz as he was immediately broken at the start of the fourth set, once again on a long forehand.
However, he seemed to re-engage in the next game as he got to 30-30 on the De Jong serve. His team did their best to encourage him and, as De Jong sent a forehand into the net, Alcaraz seemed more like himself.
The two traded breaks once again, with the set level at 2-2 before Alcaraz pulled away, helped by a tiring De Jong, who beat Britain’s Jack Draper in five sets in the first round.
Alcaraz will, however, know that tougher tests await as he attempts to secure a third major title.
“The energy that I received from the people to forget about the third set and be at my best in the fourth set was really helpful to me,” he added.