French Open 2024: Carlos Alcaraz eases injury fears, Stan Wawrinka scripts Andy Murray's exit, Naomi Osaka advances

NEW DELHI: French Open 2024 third seed Carlos Alcaraz advanced to the second round of Roland Garros with a dominant 6-1 6-2 6-1 victory over lucky loser J.J. Wolf, despite concerns about his right forearm injury.
Alcaraz, who missed three of the four tune-up events he had planned to participate in, expressed his happiness to be back in Paris and competing again, saying, "I'm really happy to be back here in Paris and competing again.It's been a difficult month for me... I love playing tennis."
Other seeded players, such as Andrey Rublev and Hubert Hurkacz, also progressed to the next round, albeit with more challenging matches. Rublev, the sixth seed and Madrid champion, battled past Japan's Taro Daniel 6-2 6-7(3) 6-3 7-5, while eighth seed Hurkacz overcame another Japanese player, Shintaro Mochizuki, 4-6 6-3 3-6 6-0 6-3, after a rain delay.
Former champions Naomi Osaka and Jelena Ostapenko also secured their spots in the second round. Osaka, who returned to the tour in January after a 15-month maternity break, fought hard to defeat Italian Lucia Bronzetti 6-1 4-6 7-5. She expressed her excitement about potentially facing defending champion Iga Swiatek in the next round, saying, "Honestly, I think it's an honour to play her in the French Open, because she's won more than once here."

Ostapenko continued her strong season with a 6-4 7-5 win over Romania's Jaqueline Cristian. However, 2021 champion Barbora Krejcikova was eliminated by Viktorija Golubic 7-6(3) 6-4.
In other matches, 10th seed Grigor Dimitrov comfortably defeated Aleksandar Kovacevic 6-4 6-3 6-4, while French hopes were dampened as their number one player, 17th seed Ugo Humbert, lost to Italian Lorenzo Sonego 6-4 2-6 6-4 6-3.
However, Caroline Garcia and Richard Gasquet kept the French flag flying with hard-fought victories. The evening session saw former champion Stan Wawrinka prevail over Andy Murray 6-4 6-4 6-2 in what is likely to be the Briton's final appearance in the major, with both players struggling with apparent niggles throughout the match.
(Inputs from Reuters)