Alcaraz moving freely after easing injury fears
Carlos Alcaraz put any concerns over an arm injury to one side after easing into the French Open second round.
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The world No.3 cruised to a straight-sets victory over J.J. Wolf on Court Philippe-Chatrier, dropping just four games en route to a convincing triumph.
Spain's Alcaraz had worries over featuring at Roland-Garros, where he was defeated in the semi-final last year, because of a troublesome arm injury.
The 21-year-old played through his first-round victory with a supportive sleeve on his right arm, but that issue did not cause Alcaraz any problems on his emphatic return.
"I would have loved to have played more matches," Alcaraz said after his dominant performance against Wolf.
"I don't need too many matches to get to 100 per cent. I think I prepared well these past two weeks before coming to Paris.
"I felt well moving. My forearm is getting better and better. That is something good for me.
"I think I don't need too many matches to play my best."
Alcaraz claimed a 12th win from his opening 15 matches at Roland-Garros. Since 2000, only two players have claimed more from that opening span of matches: Rafael Nadal (15) and Juan Carlos Ferrero (13).
The powerful Alcaraz also boasts a record of 21-1 against players ranked outside the top 50 at the Majors, with his only such defeat inflicted by Mikael Ymer at the 2021 Australian Open.
"I am really happy to be back here and back here in Paris," Alcaraz added. "To compete again has been a difficult month for me. I love competing and playing tennis. To stay away from that was hurting for me.
"I tried everything I could do to be here at 100 per cent. I think I showed my best tennis today. I'm really, really happy to show my best tennis again.
"I love playing here in Paris. The energy from the crowd here is something special. Seeing the full stadium in the first round is amazing. It's great for tennis to have a lot of people come into the tournament. I'm trying to make the people enjoy as well."
Jack Draper or Jesper de Jong await in the next round for Alcaraz, who headed into this tournament as the youngest player in the Open era to reach the Round of 16 at seven consecutive Majors.
He hammered America's Wolf in the first set in this year's opener, securing a 1-0 lead after just 37 minutes of action in Paris.
Wolf held his serve for the first time in the second set but soon fell 5-1 behind, with a comeback never seeming likely against the dominant 21-year-old.
A string of eye-catching winners helped Alcaraz twice break the struggling Wolf in the thrid set as the two-time Major winner made light work under the roof with rain pouring in the French capital.
Lucky loser Wolf was aiming for the first top-10 win of his career but came unstuck against Alcaraz, who has triumphed in all 13 of his first-round clashes at grand slam tournaments.