Alcaraz eases injury concerns with dominant early display at Roland Garros

PARIS :Carlos Alcaraz eased into the second round of the French Open after shrugging off pre-tournament concerns about his forearm while fellow seeds Andrey Rublev and Hubert Hurkacz advanced with hard-fought wins as the Grand Slam began on Sunday.

Much of the focus was on title contender Alcaraz's recently injured right forearm in the build-up to the year's second major with the 21-year-old Spaniard saying he still had worries ahead of his clash with American J.J. Wolf.

But cheered on by the Philippe Chatrier crowd, the two-times Grand Slam champion who skipped three of the four tune-up events he planned to participate in, thumped the lucky loser 6-1 6-2 6-1 and could face Jack Draper or Jesper De Jong.

"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," third seed Alcaraz said.

"To stay away from that was hurting me. I tried everything I could to be at 100 per cent in Roland Garros to show my best. I think I did it today."

Four-times Grand Slam champion Naomi Osaka and 2017 winner Jelena Ostapenko also advanced before rain interrupted play but the action continued on Suzanne Lenglen with a new retractable roof inaugurated earlier in the day deployed immediately.

Osaka's reward for a battling 6-1 4-6 7-5 win over Italian Lucia Bronzetti could be a meeting with defending champion Iga Swiatek in the next round.

Ostapenko continued her strong season by beating Romania's Jaqueline Cristian 6-4 7-5.

Madrid champion and sixth seed Rublev was pushed hard by Osaka's compatriot Taro Daniel before securing a 6-2 6-7(3) 6-3 7-5 victory while Polish eighth seed Hurkacz was dragged the distance by another Japanese player in Shintaro Mochizuki.

Hurkacz returned from a