Day 1 Preview: Alcaraz, Zverev, Felix Open Roland Garros Campaigns

The Sunday start of Roland Garros includes opening-round matches for Carlos Alcaraz, Alexander Zverev and Felix Auger-Aliassime in Paris. The year’s second Grand Slam begins exclusively with singles action, with 20 men’s matches on the slate.

ATPTour.com looks at some of the matches to watch on Day 1 in the French capital. 

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[6] Carlos Alcaraz (ESP) vs. [LL] Juan Ignacio Londero (ARG)

The first ATP Head2Head meeting between this pair will close play on Court Philippe Chatrier, with Alcaraz one of the men to watch in his second appearance at Roland Garros. The Spaniard enters the clay-court major with a tour-leading four titles in 2022 — three on clay — and a 28-3 season record. He sits at a career-high of No. 6 in the Pepperstone ATP Rankings as a result of that breakout success.

After reaching the third round as a qualifier in a successful Roland Garros debut last year before losing to Germany’s Jan-Lennard Struff, Alcaraz returns as one of the favourites to lift La Coupe des Mousquetaires in two weeks’ time. He brings a 10-match winning streak into the event after completing a Spanish title double in Barcelona and Madrid, downing Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic in consecutive matches on his way to glory in the latter.

Londero last competed in an ATP Tour event in February when he qualified and won one main-draw match in Santiago. His best 2022 result came in February, when he won six straight sets to reach the Cordoba semi-finals. The 28-year old won his lone tour-level title in Cordoba in 2019 and reached a career-high of No. 50 in the Pepperstone ATP Rankings later that year.

[3] Alexander Zverev (GER) vs. [Q] Sebastian Ofner (AUS)

Third on Court Suzanne Lenglen, Zverev and Sebastian Ofner meet at a Grand Slam for the second time following the German’s straight-sets win in the Wimbledon 2017 third round – their only previous matchup.

The third seed brings strong clay-court form into Paris, having reached the semi-finals or better at all three ATP Masters 1000 events on the European clay swing. In between last-four showings in Monte Carlo and Rome, he reached the final in Madrid. Zverev’s 18-6 record at Roland Garros is his best at any major by win percentage, as are his three trips to the quarter-finals or better. His best run came last year, when he reached the semis before dropping a five-setter to Stefanos Tsitsipas. Zverev also faced the Greek in all three of his recent semi-finals, earning a victory in Madrid.

“It’s been a consistent clay court season,” the German said ahead of his Roland Garros opener. “I thought I picked up my level of game with each tournament on the clay court season, so I hope I can play my best tennis here. Obviously [I’m] a little bit disappointed I didn’t win a title on the clay this year… If I win the title here, then I’m more than happy about my clay-court season.”

Ofner, the World No. 218, is competing in his first tour-level main draw since he reached the Los Cabos second round last July. He won an ATP Challenger Tour event in Prague in April, his best result of the 2022 season.

[9] Felix Auger-Aliassime (CAN) vs. Juan Pablo Varillas (PER)

The first ATP Head2Head matchup between Auger-Aliassime and Juan Pablo Varillas is the second meeting of their professional career, with the ninth seed winning a 2016 Futures match against the Peruvian, also on clay. They will be second on Court Philippe Chatrier on Sunday.

The 21-year-old Canadian won his first ATP Tour title in Rotterdam in February and followed it up with a trip to his 10th final in Marseille. Auger-Aliassime is 0-2 at Roland Garros, but enters Paris in tremendous form at the Grand Slams. After his loss to Andreas Seppi one year ago in the French capital, he has gone on to reach the Wimbledon quarter-finals, the US Open semis and the Australian Open quarters. More recently, he has reached four straight ATP Tour quarter-finals, including at the ATP Masters 1000 events in Madrid and Rome.

Varillas reached a career-high of No. 104 in the Pepperstone ATP Rankings earlier this month and counts a qualifying run to the Cordoba last 16 as his best tour-level result of 2022. He has also reached four semi-finals, including one final, on the ATP Challenger Tour this season.

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Best Of The Rest

Dominic Thiem seeks the first win of his comeback from a right-wrist injury on Court Simonne Mathieu against Bolivia’s Hugo Dellien. The Austrian, a two-time finalist at Roland Garros (2018-19), is also looking to bounce back from a surprise first-round loss to Pablo Andujar last year in Paris. 

John Isner, one of 15 Americans in the men’s singles draw, opens against Quentin Halys, one of 15 Frenchmen in the draw. Those two nations lead the way in terms of tournament participants, with Argentina and Spain each providing 11 main-draw competitors.

Other seeded players in action include No. 15 Diego Schwartzman (vs. qualifier Andrey Kuznetsov), No. 18 Grigor Dimitrov (vs. Marcos Giron), No. 21 Karen Khachanov (vs. qualifier Nuno Borges), No. 25 Alejandro Davidovich Fokina (vs. Tallon Griekspoor), No. 26 Botic van de Zandschulp (vs. qualifier Pavel Kotov) and No. 31 Jenson Brooksby (vs. Pablo Cuevas).