French Open: Alex de Minaur downs Alex Michelsen, reaches second round
May 28, 2024
Paris [France], May 28 : Alex de Minaur wrapped up a 6-1, 6-0, 6-2 victory against Alex Michelsen in the first round to kick-start his French Open 2024 campaign in style on Tuesday.
After play finally got underway on Court Simonne-Mathieu following a brief halt due to rain, the 11th-seeded Australian raced past Michelsen to seal his second-round spot at the clay-court major.
De Minaur converted eight of 13 break points to advance to face either Jaume Munar or Roberto Bautista Agut.
In the first game of the match, De Minaur turned away two break points, but he seldom looked back, winning over Michelsen, who was making his Roland Garros debut, in just one hour and forty-eight minutes. With his victory, the No. 11 in the ATP Rankings exacted revenge for his defeat at the hands of Michelsen in Los Cabos in February, and they levelled their ATP Head2Head series at one set.
In his eight Roland Garros outings, De Minaur has advanced to the second round four times. He's never made it to the third round in Paris, but he'll be looking to change that in order to build on a strong European clay season in which he won five ATP Masters 1000 matches in Rome and Monte Carlo.
Earlier in the day, Casper Ruud claimed a convincing 6-3, 6-4, 6-3 victory against Brazilian Felipe Meligeni Alves in the first round.
Ruud, a 12-time tour-level titlist, will lock horns with either Alejandro Davidovich Fokina or qualifier Valentin Vacherot.
Ruud, who has been a finalist in Paris the last two years, is hoping to advance this week and win his first major championship. The seventh seed has won 36 matches thus far this season on the ATP Tour, including championship runs in Barcelona, and Geneva last week, and his first trophy above the ATP 250 level.
The 25-year-old faced qualifier Meligeni Alves in his first ATP Head2Head match under the Court Philippe-Chatrier roof, and he continued his scorching form.
Ruud moved with ease from defence to attack, frequently going well beyond the baseline to take advantage of the Brazilian's strength before seizing the chance to break free with a forehand.
According to ATP Stats, the Norwegian made 89 per cent of his first serves and faced just one break point during the one-hour, 55-minute encounter. He was quite precise with his own delivery.
Ruud, who is ranked seventh in the ATP Rankings, was able to score short returns by serving to Meligeni Alves' backhand on the ad-side. This allowed Ruud to move closer to the doubles alley and execute powerful groundstrokes to move into the second round.
