Alcaraz starts clay-court season with win over Cerundolo in Monte Carlo

MONACO (AP) — Defending French Open champion Carlos Alcaraz started his clay-court season by rallying to a 3-6, 6-0, 6-1 victory over Francisco Cerundolo in the second round of Monte Carlo Masters on Wednesday.

The second-seeded Alcaraz was coming off a surprising loss to Belgian veteran David Goffin in his first match at the Miami Open last month.

Another upset seemed possible when Cerundolo, ranked No. 22, took the first set but Alcaraz dominated the rest of the match and converted five of his seven break points across the second and third sets.

Alcaraz is seeking a second title of 2025 and to finetune his clay-court game ahead of a bid to retain his title at Roland Garros starting next month.

Lorenzo Musetti, the 13th seed, beat Jiri Lehecka 1-6, 7-5, 6-2 to set up a last-16 match against fellow Italian Matteo Berrettini, who beat top-seeded Alexander Zverev on Tuesday.

Richard Gasquet and Gael Monfils, a pair of 38-year-old Frenchman, were eliminated by Daniel Altmaier and seventh-seeded Andrey Rublev, respectively.

The Monte Carlo Masters is the first big clay-court tournament of the year on the ATP Tour.

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AP tennis: https://apnews.com/hub/tennis