Carlos Alcaraz laboured to a second-round victory over Dutch qualifier Jesper de Jong in a match that raised more questions about his chances of lasting the course at the French Open.
The Spanish third seed and reigning Wimbledon champion, who has been battling a forearm injury for two months, needed four sets to see off the world number 176.
The warning signs were there when Alcaraz, once again wearing a support sleeve on his right arm, was broken in his first service game.
He quickly recovered that break and took the first two sets, but the forehand was definitely lacking its usual whip and power.
That was to take nothing away from De Jong, who was playing well above his ranking despite struggling physically himself.
Indeed, Britain’s Jack Draper may feel a little better about his surprise defeat to De Jong in the first round after the 23-year-old broke Alcaraz twice on the way to taking the third set.
But De Jong was visibly tiring in the fourth set despite forcing another early break of serve.
He was unable to hold on to his own serve, sprinkling in too many double faults as Alcaraz got over the line 6-3 6-4 2-6 6-2 in just over three hours.
“I prefer not to spend too much time on the court, I want to be in good shape for the next round but every match is different,” Alcaraz said.
“It’s good for me to get the rhythm, but I prefer to spend less hours on court.
“Jesper showed that the ranking doesn’t matter. I’m sure that he is going to break the top 100.”
Alcaraz will face either American Sebastian Korda or South Korean Kwon Soon-woo in the third round.
Korda was 5-4 up in the first set when the Paris rain once again began to fall, and play on the outside courts was eventually suspended for the day.
Earlier, Greek ninth seed Stefanos Tsitsipas won the battle of the one-handed backhands, beating Germany’s Daniel Altmaier 6-3 6-2 6-7 (2) 6-4.
In the night match, second seed Jannik Sinner stretched his winning streak at grand slams to nine matches.
The Italian, who won the Australian Open in January, beat French veteran Richard Gasquet 6-4 6-2 6-4.
