Carlos Alcaraz banishes injury fears with dominant opening win at Roland Garros

Carlos Alcaraz shrugged off any injury fears as he tamed JJ Wolf to roar into the second round of the French Open.

The Spanish world number three’s participation at Roland Garros was in doubt after he pulled out of the Italian Open earlier this month due to an issue with his forearm.

But the two-time major winner was in no obvious discomfort as he bared his teeth by dropping just four games against American Wolf.

Wearing a protective sleeve on his right arm, the 21-year-old Wimbledon champion crashed down five aces and clubbed 27 winners in a statement 6-1 6-2 6-1 victory on Court Philippe Chatrier.

He said: “I’m really happy to be back here in Paris to compete again, it’s been a very difficult month for me because I love competing.

“I’ve tried everything I could to be at 100 per cent here at Roland Garros to show my best tennis, and I think I did that today.

“I would have loved to have played more matches but I don’t need too many matches to get to 100 per cent. I did really good preparation this past two weeks and practices with top players. My forearm is getting better and better.”

Alcaraz will player Dutch qualifier Jesper De Jong, who beat Britain’s Jack Draper in five sets, in round two.

Russian sixth seed Andrey Rublev needed four sets to see off Taro Daniel of Japan.

The 26-year-old, looking to go beyond the quarter-finals of a grand slam for the first time, won 6-2 6-7 (3-7) 6-3 7-5.

Bulgarian 10th seed Grigor Dimitrov had a more straightforward win over American Aleksandar Kovacevic, 6-4 6-3 6-4.

But 17th seed and French number one Ugo Humbert bowed out in four sets, 6-4 2-6 6-4 6-3 to Lorenzo Sonego of Italy.