Alcaraz holds off Griekspoor to reach third round in Paris; Ruud, Tsitsipas also into last 16

Carlos Alcaraz had to work a little harder than expected to claim his place in the third round at the Olympics on Monday, saving a set point before dispatching Dutchman Tallon Griekspoor 6-1, 7-6 (3).

The second seed breezed through the first set but had a medical timeout at 4-5 in the second and saved a set point on serve in the next game before closing it out in the tiebreak.

“I’m really happy to get through tonight,” Alcaraz said. “I played much better in the first set than in the second. He played better, I had to raise my level. I’m really happy with the way I played in the tiebreak and happy to get through in two sets.”

Alcaraz said he expected to be fine for his doubles with Rafael Nadal on Tuesday. “I don’t think it’s important, not a problem hopefully, just a tennis player’s life, feeling a little bit of a niggle,” he said. “We’ll see with the doctors whether I can be ready tomorrow for the doubles with Rafa but I look forward to it.”

Alcaraz looked like he was in a hurry when he took the first set in no time but Griekspoor upped his game, throwing everything at the Spaniard and it worked, unsettling the No 2 seed and pushing him hard.

At 4-5, he had a chance to take it to a third set only for Alcaraz to save it with a fine point. The Dutchman was the better player at the end of the second, but Alcaraz lifted his game again in the tiebreak to seal a meeting with Roman Safiullin in round three.

Carlos Ruud, twice the runner-up at Roland-Garros, joined Alcaraz in the last 16 with a tough 4-6, 6-4, 6-3 win over Andrea Vavassori.

Stefanos Tsitsipas took care of Dan Evans 6-1, 6-2, while Francisco Cerundolo, Sebastian Baez and Dominik Koepfer all advanced.

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