Carlos Alcaraz came through a tricky early test at the French Open with flying colors, as the world No. 1 sealed a 6-1, 3-6, 6-1, 6-2 victory over Japan's Taro Daniel on Wednesday to reach the third round.
Alcaraz enjoyed a dominant opening win over Flavio Cobolli in his first match as the top seed in a Grand Slam, and the 20-year-old from Spain used another blistering start against Daniel to ease through the first set on the back of two breaks.
Daniel pounced early in the second set to grab a 3-0 lead before Alcaraz got on the board. He continued to batter the suddenly error-prone Alcaraz with some relentless hitting from the baseline before leveling the contest.
But Daniel, who is ranked No. 112, was quickly on the back foot again as Alcaraz regained focus to break early and close out the third set in style, conceding only one late game.