Staff Reporter.
Carlos Alcaraz says his injured forearm is getting “better and better” after claiming a dominant first-round French Open win over J.J. Wolf.
The 21-year-old pulled out of the Monte Carlo Masters in April with a muscle strain and arrived in Paris without much match practice.
However he dropped just four games in an 6-1 6-2 6-1 dispatching of American lucky loser Wolf.
Wimbledon champion Alcaraz wore a compression sleeve on his arm during the match, but said afterwards: “I think I showed my best tennis today.
“I tried everything I could do to be here at 100%.”
Spain’s Alcaraz needed just one hour and 51 minutes to win, with his ground strokes close to their formidable best.
He hit 27 winners to just 16 unforced errors and registered five aces as he bids to better his semi-final showing from last year.
“I would have loved to have played more matches but I don’t need too many to get to 100%,” Alcaraz said.
“I did really good preparation this past two weeks and practices with top players. My forearm is getting better and better.”
Alcaraz will play either Britain’s Jack Draper or qualifier Jesper de Jong in the second round.
Earlier, sixth seed Andrey Rublev came through a tough test against Taro Daniel to reach the second round and French number one and 17th seed Ugo Humbert lost 6-4 2-6 6-4 6-3 to Lorenzo Sonego of Italy.