Carlos Alcaraz said he “expected a worse level” from himself after beginning his French Open title defence with a straight-set victory.Spain's four-time major winner recorded an efficient 6-3 6-4 6-2 victory over Italian qualifier Giulio Zeppieri in just one hour and 56 minutes.
The 22-year-old is aiming to become the first man since compatriot Rafael Nadal in 2020 to retain the Roland Garros title.
But despite winning 27 of his 29 matches on clay since May last year, Alcaraz said he did not expect such a smooth start to his campaign.
“I expected a worse level for me, honestly,” world number two Alcaraz said.
“The first round for every tournament is never easy to adapt your game to the conditions and get used to it.
“I’m just really proud about it. It is great to have these feelings in the first round.”
Sinner overcomes late wobble to win opener
World number one Jannik Sinner defied a late wobble to begin his French Open campaign with a straight-set victory over Arthur Rinderknech.
Playing his first Grand Slam match since serving a three-month doping ban, Italian Sinner beat his French opponent 6-4 6-3 7-5 on Court Philippe Chatrier.
It was not as comfortable as the scoreline suggests, however, with the 23-year-old forced to fight back from a double break down in the third set against a resurgent Rinderknech.
It marked a return to winning ways for Sinner after Carlos Alcaraz ended his run of 26 successive match victories in the Italian Open final earlier this month.
"First-round matches are never easy," he said. "I'm very happy with how I handled the situation, especially in the third set.
"He made a couple of mistakes when he was serving for the set so that gave me some help. But I just tried to have the right mindset and attitude."
Earlier on Monday, world number four Taylor Fritz became the highest-ranked player to exit this year's tournament at Roland Garros as he was beaten by Daniel Altmaier in the first round.
Sick Raducanu earns battling win
Emma Raducanu says battling through sickness to set up a French Open second-round meeting with defending champion Iga Swiatek is one of the most satisfying performances of her career.
The British number two earned a 7-5 4-6 6-3 victory against China’s Wang Xinyu, despite needing to see the doctor on court towards the end of the first set.
Raducanu, ranked 41st in the world, is making only her second appearance at Roland Garros after missing the past two tournaments with injury.
“I’m actually really proud of today's match, more so than I think a lot of the matches that I played recently or in general, because I woke up and I felt really sick,” she said.
“To have come through that and overcome how I was feeling, I'm really happy with it.”
The 22-year-old recovered to serve out the opener at the second attempt, but Wang - ranked two places lower - rediscovered her quality to level, partly fuelled by a disputed line-call in the 10th game.
