Second seed Carlos Alcaraz began his tournament with a 7-5, 6-1 win over Chile’s Nicolas Jarry, moving on to the Round of 16 at the Rolex Paris Masters on Tuesday.
The young Spanish player, who had a bye in the first round, served nine aces without any double faults and saved 5 of 6 break points. The match was tight until Alcaraz broke a tie at 1-1 in the second set and won the last five games.
Jarry hit 13 winners, matching Alcaraz, but made 24 unforced errors compared to Alcaraz’s six.
“I think I played really good tennis (in the first set), but at the end it was complicated,” Alcaraz said. He led the first set 5-2 before Jarry fought back to tie it at 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 made it past the quarterfinals in Paris.
Three other Round of 32 matches took place on Tuesday, with two upsets.
Francisco Cerundolo from Argentina knocked out No. 6 seed Andrey Rublev from Russia with a score of 7-6 (6), 7-6 (5). Australia’s Jordan Thompson upset No. 7 seed Casper Ruud from Norway 7-6 (3), 3-6, 6-4, as Ruud had 53 unforced errors. However, No. 10 seed Stefanos Tsitsipas from Greece advanced easily, defeating Chilean Alejandro Tabilo 6-3, 6-4 in about 67 minutes.
The Round of 64 also finished on Tuesday with 11 matches.
France’s Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard, who received a wild card to enter the tournament, surprised No. 14 seed Frances Tiafoe with a score of 6-7 (5), 7-6 (4), 6-3. Mpetshi Perricard had recently won the Swiss Indoors Basel as an unseeded player and continued his strong performance on Tuesday, serving 28 aces against Tiafoe while facing 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 defeated No. 12 seed Hubert Hurkacz from Poland easily, winning 6-1, 6-3 in just 51 minutes. Germany’s Jan-Lennard Struff upset Italian No. 16 seed Lorenzo Musetti with a score of 6-4, 6-2.
Several players won their matches in straight sets, including No. 9 seed Alex de Minaur from Australia, No. 13 seed Holger Rune from 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 and beat Australian Christopher O’Connell 6-4, 3-6, 7-6 (6). Ben Shelton defeated French qualifier Corentin Moutet with a score of 6-3, 6-7 (8), 6-3.
