PARIS, July 27 (Xinhua) -- A rain-affected day dampened the opening of the 2024 Olympic tennis tournament at Roland Garros, but that didn't stop Iga Swiatek and Novak Djokovic from progressing in the singles tournament, while Carlos Alcaraz advanced in both singles and doubles with partner Rafael Nadal.
Gold medal favorite Swiatek began her Olympic campaign with a challenging win over Irina-Camelia Begu. The Polish world number one, dominant on clay, won 6-2, 7-5, extending her Roland Garros streak to 22 matches.
Swiatek will face either Nadia Podoroska or Diane Parry next. Italy's Jasmine Paolini, the French Open runner-up, also advanced, beating Ana Bogdan 7-5, 6-3. Despite her forehand and serve misfiring, Swiatek fought back from a break down in the second set to win, with Begu's double fault sealing the match. Rain delayed play on the outside courts.
Serbia's Djokovic and Alcaraz of Spain made impressive starts at Paris 2024 on Saturday. Djokovic dominated Australia's Matthew Ebden with a swift 6-0, 6-1 victory, needing only 53 minutes to secure his spot in the second round. The 37-year-old top seed won 63 percent of his return points and hit 24 winners on Court Philippe-Chatrier.
With 24 major titles and 428 weeks as world No. 1, Djokovic might face Nadal next, with the Spaniard set to play Marton Fucsovics in the first round. Djokovic leads their head-to-head series 30-29 and has a 5-0 record against Fucsovics. This is Djokovic's fifth Olympic appearance, with his best result being a bronze medal at Beijing 2008.
In his first appearance of the day, second seed Alcaraz defeated Lebanon's Hady Habib 6-3, 6-1 in his Olympic debut. The 21-year-old, who has won 15 tour-level trophies, aims to become the second player to win the Roland Garros men's singles title and the Olympic men's singles gold medal in the same year, following Nadal in 2008. This year, Alcaraz has already won titles in Indian Wells and Wimbledon. He will face either Cameron Norrie or Tallon Griekspoor next.
In the doubles game, Alcaraz and Nadal had to work hard over an hour and 47 minutes to overcome the experienced Argentinian pair of Maximo Gonzalez and Andres Molteni 7-6 (4), 6-4. Nadal, the most successful player at Roland Garros with his record 14 French Open titles, starts his singles campaign on Sunday.
Seventh seed Taylor Fritz also started strongly, defeating Alexander Bublik 6-4, 6-4. The American will play the winner of the match between Jack Draper and Kei Nishikori in the second round.
In the final women's game, Naomi Osaka crashed out against Angelique Kerber 7-5, 6-3 after the Japanese faded in the final three games of the final set.
