The "man to beat" on the ochre currently in the absence of Rafael Nadal, according to the six-time winner and titleholder of the Masters 1000 of Rome Novak Djokovic, played the rain fallen on the Italian capital to sign his twentieth victory in 21 matches on clay in 2023.

Exempted from the 1st round, the 20-year-old Spaniard certainly started his Roman adventure by losing his stake, but he quickly increased the pace to subdue Ramos in 1:26 (6-4, 6-1).

The one who has just won back-to-back tournaments in Barcelona and Madrid is playing for the first time in the Roman tournament, where he appears as Djokovic's main rival on the way to a possible seventh title.

This is the first time this year that both participate in the same tournament and the tifosi are already dreaming of a duel of titans, which could only take place in the final, on May 21, a week before the start of Roland-Garros.

In Paris, Alcaraz will arrive in world N.1, a place he will certainly occupy in the next ATP ranking, after Rome. The young Spaniard only needed to play one match at the Foro Italico to pass Djokovic, whom he was hot on his heels in the last ranking.

© Filippo MONTEFORTE / AFP

As a holder, "Nole" will at best be able to keep his current points, in case of another success, while Alcaraz, absent last year in Italy, has already collected enough points to overtake him and regain the No. 1 place he has already occupied regularly since his victory at the US Open last year.

Hecatomb in women

"Being No. 1 is great. To be in a Grand Slam, at Roland Garros, it's something crazy, I couldn't have believed it a few years ago," Alcaraz said.

"But to be honest, it doesn't change much to be seeded No. 1 or No. 2. I just have to be focused on the tournament, on my game," he added.

The Spaniard was pleased to have overpowered his compatriot Ramos in "conditions that were not easy, with rain all day". "I didn't know if I was going to play, or not, it was hard," he said after a match played in the afternoon under a small drizzle, incomparable however with the heavy rain of midday.

The Spaniard will meet in the 3rd round the Hungarian Fabian Marozsan (135th in the world) or the Czech Jiri Lehecka (39th).

Between the drops, the Russian Andrey Rublev (N.6) also qualified at the expense of the Slovakian Alex Molcan (59th).

On the women's side, the hecatomb continues with the elimination in the 3rd round of the French Caroline Garcia (4th in the world). Confidence has been low in recent weeks, she lost 6-4, 6-4, to the 100th world, the Colombian Camila Osorio, in a match interrupted by rain at the beginning of the second set.

© Filippo MONTEFORTE / AFP

With the elimination of Garcia, the No. 5 seed, the tournament has already lost before the knockout rounds four of the five members of its "Top 5", who was already orphaned by Aryna Sabalenka (N.2), Jessica Pegula (N.3) and Ons Jabeur (N.4).

© 2023 AFP