PARIS — Spain’s Carlos Alcaraz defeated Netherlands’ Tallon Griekspoor 6-1 7-6(3) on Monday to reach the third round of the Paris Games tennis tournament as he strives for Olympic gold.
The world number three, who won this year’s French Open and Wimbledon titles was back on Court Philippe-Chatrier and set the tone from the start with an ace and two forehand winners.
With the crowd having seen fellow Spaniard Rafael Nadal beaten by Novak Djokovic, Alcaraz appeared determined to show he was ready to take up the baton at Roland Garros, breaking Griekspoor immediately and racing through the first set in 32 minutes.
But the Dutchman, ranked 28 in the world, made a better fist of it in the second set. He repeatedly held his serve under pressure, giving back as much as Alcaraz threw at him and at times forcing the Spaniard into some uncharacteristic errors.
The set went to a tiebreak with the 21-year-old Alcaraz stepping up the pace and showing subtlety to win the match.
In the third round, he will play Russian Roman Safiullin, the world number 67, who is competing as a neutral athlete.