Alcaraz overcomes blip to progress - but Ruud exits

French Open 2025

Dates: 25 May-8 June Venue: Roland Garros

Coverage: Live radio commentaries across 5 Live Sport and BBC Sounds, plus live text commentaries on the BBC Sport website and app

Defending champion Carlos Alcaraz overcame a blip in form to beat Fabian Marozsan and reach the French Open third round - but two-time finalist Casper Ruud is out.

Spaniard Alcaraz started strongly but dropped the second set before recovering to wrap up a 6-1 4-6 6-1 6-2 win over his Hungarian opponent.

But there was no such fortune for seventh seed Ruud as the Norwegian became the second top-10 player to exit early following a 2-6 6-4 6-1 6-0 defeat by Portugal's Nuno Borges.

Victory was Alcaraz's 17th in 18 matches on clay this year as he looks to become the first man since compatriot Rafael Nadal in 2020 to retain the Roland Garros title.

"In the second set, he started to play much better and he was really aggressive. He didn't miss at all so it was a little difficult to deal with his game in the second set," said the 22-year-old.

"But I'm really happy I stayed strong and refreshed myself. I started to play better and better which helped me have a really good last two sets."

Alcaraz won titles in Monte Carlo and Rome in the build-up to the French Open and mirrored that form at the start as he broke three times to win the first set inside 28 minutes.

Marozsan, looking to reach the third round at Roland Garros for the first time, broke early in a scrappy second set before fending off the second seed to level.

But Alcaraz - a four-time Grand Slam champion - responded well to breeze through the rest of the match.

He will face unseeded Damir Dzumhur in the third round after the Bosnian's 7-6 (7-4) 6-3 4-6 6-4 win over France's 31st seed Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard.

Ruud, who reached the French Open final in 2022 and 2023, is the second top 10 seed to be knocked out of this year's tournament after fourth-ranked Taylor Fritz's first-round departure.

The 26-year-old Norwegian won the first set comfortably but struggled with a knee injury towards the end of the match, winning just one game in the final two sets.

Victory saw the 28-year-old Borges, who is ranked 41st in the world, reach the third round in Paris for the first time in his career.

"Hopefully it is nothing too serious but for the last couple of weeks I've been struggling with knee pain," Ruud said.

"In practice it is easier to avoid certain movements, certain shots. But when you play matches you can't control it the same way.

"I still played good tennis in the first two sets. It's a Slam, I didn't want to retire."

Borges will play Australian 25th seed Alexei Popyrin after he beat unseeded Chilean Alejandro Tabilo 7-5 6-3 6-4.

Italian eighth seed Lorenzo Musetti went through to the third round with a 6-4 6-0 6-4 win against Colombia's Daniel Galan.

Musetti will face Argentine Mariano Navone after his 6-1 7-6 (7-1) 6-3 victory against American Reilly Opelka.

Russian 24th seed Karen Khachanov booked his place in round three, beating Austria's Sebastian Ofner 7-5 3-6 7-5 4-6 6-2.

In the men's doubles competition, Jacob Fearnley, who won his first French Open singles match on Monday, safely cruised into the second round alongside Canadian Gabriel Diallo with a 6-0 6-2 win over Nicolas Barrientos and Rithvik Bollipalli of Colombia and India respectively.

Briton Luke Johnson reached the second round of a Grand Slam for just the third time as he and his Dutch partner Sander Arends beat Brazilian-Chile pairing Marcelo Demoliner and Nicolas Jarry 3-6 6-3 7-6 (10-6).