Italian flag flies high on soggy French Open day

Italians Jasmine Paolini and Lorenzo Musetti lit up a damp day at Roland Garros as they both surged into the third round of the French Open with comprehensive wins while twice runner-up Casper Ruud made a shock exit on Wednesday.

Unheralded Matteo Gigante kept the Italian tricolour flying high in the afternoon with the biggest victory of his career as the qualifier sent former finalist Stefanos Tsitsipas tumbling out of the Grand Slam.

Defending champion Carlos Alcaraz endured a minor scare but got past unseeded Hungarian Fabian Marozsan before women's title holder Iga Swiatek dismantled Briton Emma Raducanu to keep her bid for a sixth major title on track.

Fourth seed Paolini, a surprise runner-up last year, barely put a foot wrong on Court Philippe Chatrier as she brushed aside Australia's Ajla Tomljanovic 6-3 6-3 after paying homage to the venue's greatest champion Rafa Nadal.

The diminutive Italian, who trains with Nadal's former mentor Marc Lopez, touched the newly installed footprint of the Spanish great on centre court before delivering a polished display in front of a sparse crowd.

“It was great to play again there,” said Paolini.

“It's an amazing court and I'm happy how I played, because I played better than the first round which is good. I'm just happy about the performance.”

Musetti continued his clay court resurgence with a clinical 6-4 6-0 6-4 dismantling of Colombian lucky loser Daniel Galan on court Simonne Mathieu.

The eighth seed, a finalist in Monte Carlo and semifinalist in Madrid and Rome, overcame patchy weather to extend his recent successes on clay.

“It was a solid performance from the beginning until the end,” said Musetti, whose confidence has soared since reaching the Monte Carlo final last month.

“After that, I felt like another player. The results in Madrid and Rome confirmed this step forward.”

He was joined in the next round by Gigante, who beat 2021 runner-up and 20th seed Tsitsipas 6-4 5-7 6-2 6-4.

Alcaraz sealed a 6-1 4-6 6-1 6-2 win over Marozsan, who beat him in Rome two years ago, before the Spaniard declared his love for Court Philippe Chatrier where he lifted his maiden French Open title last year.

“I have done really great things on this court. I have had really great moments and some really bad moments as well, which I have learnt from,” Alcaraz said.

“I just love playing here. I think it fits pretty well with my tennis, every time I step on this court I show good tennis.”

Seventh seed Ruud has also enjoyed his Roland Garros centre court outings after twice making the final but his latest quest for a maiden major title unravelled as he fell 2-6 6-4 6-1 6-0 to Portugal's Nuno Borges.

The Norwegian appeared in control after claiming the opening set but faded as soon as Borges took command, with Ruud needing a medical timeout for a knee injury, which he said had troubled him in recent weeks, before being blanked in the fourth set.

The medical staff were on hand again when Bosnian Damir Dzumhur suffered a nasty fall in his match with Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard but he recovered to outlast the big-serving Frenchman 7-6(4) 6-3 4-6 6-4.

On the women's side, world number one Aryna Sabalenka started off on the wrong foot before trampling Swiss Jil Teichmann into the French Open dirt with a 6-3 6-1 win that propelled her into the third round.

Sabalenka began her bid for a maiden Paris crown by dropping only one game against Kamilla Rakhimova in the opening round but the 27-year-old from Belarus faced far more resistance against Teichmann, who grabbed an early break to pile on the pressure.

The tricky left-hander troubled Sabalenka throughout the early part of the opening set but the top seed composed herself and pulled level at 3-3, before breaking her unseeded opponent again in the eighth game and then taking control of the match.

China's Zheng Qinwen, the Paris 2024 Olympics champion on these courts, powered past Emiliana Arango of Colombia 6-2 6-3 as the eighth seed's big-hitting game proved too much for the world number 85.

She now faces Canadian 18-year-old qualifier Victoria Mboko, who extended her fairy-tale run with a 6-4 6-4 win over Germany's Eva Lys in her Grand Slam debut.

Swiatek made light work of former US Open champion Emma Raducanu, sealing a 6-1 6-2 victory and stretching her winning run in Paris to 23 consecutive matches.

The world number five, looking to become the first woman in the professional era since 1968 to claim four consecutive titles at Roland Garros, has now beaten Raducanu in all five of their meetings in straight sets.

Earlier, former French Open semifinalist and 16th seed Amanda Anisimova brushed aside Switzerland's Viktorija Golubic 6-0 6-2 in 55 minutes to reach the third round while 13th seed Elina Svitolina beat Anna Bondar 7-6(4) 7-5. 

Reuters