Carlos Alcaraz’s French Open hopes boosted as two major rivals falter

Oli Dickson Jefford 28 May 2025 8:21 PM

Carlos Alcaraz in Paris

Carlos Alcaraz did not have it easy at the French Open on Wednesday – but the reigning champion did enough to keep his title defence alive.

The world No 2 was handed a tricky second-round test against Fabian Marozsan, who stunned Alcaraz in their only previous clay-court meeting at the 2023 Italian Open.

However, surviving a second-set scare, the defending Roland Garros champion held off his Hungarian rival with a battling 6-1, 4-6, 6-1, 6-2 triumph on Court Philippe Chatrier.

Alcaraz has now won nine matches in a row at Roland Garros, and the pre-tournament favourite still feels like the leading contender to lift the title.

And, his quest to claim a second French Open title has perhaps been aided by the exit of two potential rivals on Wednesday.

Ruud and Tsitsipas stunned

Casper Ruud and Stefanos Tsitsipas are two men with huge pedigrees at Roland Garros.

Ruud reached the final in 2022 and 2023 and was also a semi-finalist twelve months ago, while Tsitsipas was a runner-up in 2021, semi-finalist in 2020, and had reached the second week for six straight years.

However, both men have been knocked out in perhaps the biggest shocks of the tournament so far.

World No 8 and seventh seed Ruud, struggling with a leg injury, was beaten 2-6, 6-4, 6-1, 6-0 by world No 41 Nuno Borges, his earliest French Open exit since his tournament debut in 2018.

Meanwhile, 20th seed Tsitsipas was also beaten in four sets, falling 6-4, 5-7, 6-2, 6-4 to 167th-ranked qualifier Matteo Gigante.

Both men will suffer significant ranking drops as a result of their defeats, and these results have played perfectly into the hands of Alcaraz.

How does Alcaraz benefit?

Seeded second in the draw, Alcaraz is projected to face 13th seed Ben Shelton in the round of 16.

However, Shelton was expected to face 20th seed Tsitsipas, with the American now up against Gigante in the third round.

Though Shelton would have been expected by ranking to beat Tsitsipas in a hypothetical match-up, the Greek is the stronger clay-courter of the two and perhaps would have been favoured to win.

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Alcaraz holds a perfect 6-0 record against the Greek, including French Open quarter-final wins in 2023 and 2024.

However, Tsitsipas is still arguably more of a danger to the Spaniard on clay than Shelton, who has never previously made the fourth round at Roland Garros – and trails Alcaraz 0-2 in their head-to-head.

Alcaraz’s projected French Open pathway saw him drawn against seventh seed Ruud, with a hypothetical quarter-final between the two set before the tournament.

He holds a 4-1 head-to-head lead over the Norwegian, though he lost their last match at the ATP Finals last November, while Ruud had three straight French Open semi-finals to his name.

One of the strongest clay-courters of recent years, Ruud won the Madrid Open title this spring, and his shock exit has opened Alcaraz’s quarter up perfectly for him.

Twelfth seed Tommy Paul is the highest-ranked player Alcaraz could potentially face in the last eight, with the American facing 24th seed Karen Khachanov in round three.

The winner of that will then face Borges or 25th seed Alexei Popyrin, before a hypothetical quarter-final against Alcaraz.

The Spaniard’s half of the draw has already seen the exit of fourth seed and projected semi-final opponent Taylor Fritz, who fell in round one to Daniel Altmaier.

Outside of Alcaraz, the highest-ranked opponent left in the bottom half is eighth seed Lorenzo Musetti, whom he beat in the Monte Carlo Masters final and Italian Open semi-final.

Alcaraz’s next match will be a round-three showdown against Damir Dzumhur, who knocked out 31st seed Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard on Wednesday.