Reigning champion Carlos Alcaraz believes his form was better than expected during his first round win at the French Open on Monday.
The Second seed began his title defence with a 6-3, 6-4, 6-2, win over Italian qualifier Giulio Zeppieri, who is currently ranked 310th in the world and has never beaten a top 10 player in his career. Alcaraz didn’t drop his serve throughout the match and produced 31 winners against 23 unforced errors. The victory extends his perfect record against players outside the top 100 at Grand Slam events to 18-0.
Whilst being the heavy favourite on the court, the 22-year-old said afterwards he was pleasantly surprised by his opening performance in Paris. Alcaraz is making his fifth main draw appearance in the tournament.
“Today was a great match. I felt great hitting the balls and moving. I think everything was great,” he said after beating Zeppieri.
“I expected a worse level from me, honestly. The first round of every tournament is never easy to adapt your game to the conditions and get used to it.
“I’m just really proud about it. Is great to have these feelings in the first round.”
Alcaraz has already claimed a trio of ATP titles this season with two of those being at Masters 1000 events in Monte Carlo and Rome, which were both on clay. He also reached the final of an ATP 500 clay event in Barcelona. Overall, he has made it to the quarter-finals or better at seven out of eight tournaments played so far this season.
“Right now I think I found a really good path again, and I’m trying to have a really good level during the whole tournament or the whole match.” The Spaniard replied when asked about trying to maintain his consistency.
“I’m just starting to get it, feeling more comfortable approaching the matches. Once I start the matches, I think I’m just keeping a high level in the whole match and during the whole tournament.
“During the rest of the season, I’ll try to keep it like that, but I’m feeling like I’m starting to get it.”
Awaiting Alcaraz in the second round will be Fabian Marozsan, who beat Luca Nardi 6-2, 6-3, 7-6 (3), in his opening match. Marozsan has registered three wins over top 20 players in 2025, beating Andreu Rublev twice and Taylor Fritz. The Hungarian has also previously beaten Alcaraz on clay back in 2023 at the Italian Open.
“Fabian likes to hit dropshots. So probably I put extra focus on that,” Alcaraz said of his next match.
“It’s gonna be a dropshot battle, I guess, but let’s see. It’s going to be an interesting match, so I’ll be ready for that from him.”
