Alcaraz overcomes blip to progress – but Ruud exits

French Open 2025

Location: Roland Garros, May 25 – June

Casper Ruud, the two-time French Open champion, is out after Carlos Alcaraz, the current champion, overcame a blip in form to defeat Fabian Marozsan.

Spanish Open champion Alcaraz won 6-1, 6-1, 6-1, 6-1, 6-2 over his Hungarian opponent after starting strong but dropping the second set.

Ruud, the seventh seed, was denied this opportunity after conceding to Portugal’s Nuno Borges 2-6, 6-1, 6-0, to become the second top-10 player to leave early.

He “started to play much better and be very aggressive in the second set.” The 22-year-old said that because he didn’t miss any shots in the second set, it was a little challenging to control his game.

“But I’m really happy that I kept up my strength and mental vigor.” I improved as I played, which made for a really good final two sets.

Alcaraz won titles in Monte Carlo and Rome before the French Open, and he showed it right away when he broke three times to win the first set within 28 minutes.

Marozsan broke early in a scrappy second set before overcoming the second seed to level the match.

Alcaraz, a four-time Grand Slam champion, did a good job of surviving the final fifteen minutes to survive.

Ruud, who reached the French Open final in 2022 and 2023, is the second top 10 seed to be eliminated from the competition this year following Taylor Fritz’s first-round exit.

The 26-year-old Norwegian won the first set well but had a knee problem toward the end, giving up just one game in the second set.

Borges, 28, who is ranked 41st overall, made it to Paris for the first time in his career with victory.

Ruud said, “Hopefully it’s not too serious, but I’ve been having knee pain for the past few weeks.”

“Practically speaking, it’s simpler to steer clear of particular movements and shots. However, you have no control over how you play matches.

In the first two sets, I still managed to play good tennis. I didn’t want to retire because it’s a Slam.

After defeating Chilean Alejandro Tabilo 7-5, 6-3, 6-4, Borges will face Australian 25th seed Alexei Popyrin.

Lorenzo Musetti, an eighth-seed from Italy, defeated Colombia’s Daniel Galan 6-4, 6-0, 6-4 to advance to the third round.