Carlos Alcaraz's defense of his Wimbledon title got off to a more difficult start than he imagined, but the Spanish star emerged Monday with a three-set victory.
Alcaraz beat 21-year-old qualifier Mark Lajal of Estonia 7-6 (3), 7-5, 6-2 on Centre Court to advance to the second round.
The third-ranked Alcaraz is looking to follow up last month's French Open victory with what would be his second straight Wimbledon championship.
Top-ranked Jannik Sinner is also on Monday's schedule, playing Yannick Hanfmann at No. 1 Court. The Australian Open winner ascended to the No. 1 ranking after Novak Djokovic was forced out of the French Open with a knee injury. The second-ranked Djokovic will be in action Tuesday less than a month after having surgery to repair his meniscus.
No. 5-seeded Daniil Medvedev beat Aleksandar Kovacevic 6-3, 6-4, 6-2, and No. 8-seeded Casper Ruud topped Alex Bolt 7-6 (2), 6-4, 6-4. Unseeded Canadian Denis Shapovalov eliminated No. 19 Nicolas Jarry 6-1, 7-5, 6-4.
Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.
