Paris — World number one Carlos Alcaraz got his French Open campaign underway with a straight-sets win over Italian qualifier Flavio Cobolli on Monday.
The 20-year-old, the youngest top seed at Roland Garros since Bjorn Borg in 1976, swept to a 6-0, 6-2, 7-5 win over his 159th-ranked opponent.
US Open champion Alcaraz won the first eight games of Monday's match and was comfortably two sets up in just 52 minutes.
Cobolli, making his Grand Slam debut, rallied briefly in the third set but was unable to take advantage of two break points in the sixth game.
US Open champion Alcaraz then saw four match points slip away as the Italian hung on to level at 5-5.
However, the Spaniard wrapped up the tie on a fifth match point in the 12th game.
Next up for Alcaraz is a clash with Japan's Taro Daniel for a place in the last 32.
AFP