Alcaraz makes no excuses: "I'm the one responsible for the ups and downs".

Carlos Alcaraz has not been the most impressive player at this early stage of the tournament. Although he qualified for the third round, he didn't fully convince. Up against qualifier Jasper De Jong (176th), the Spaniard needed just over 3 hours to get through (6-3, 6-4, 2-6, 6-2 in 3h10).

Jostled in return (5 breaks conceded) and alternating between the good and the not-so-good (35 winners, 47 unforced errors), the world number 3 will have to do much better if he is to aim for the final title.

In his press conference, he made no attempt to hide the fact. Quite frankly, he admitted that he'd had a rather average day, and didn't hide behind the discomfort in his right arm. He explained: "My arm is fine. Yes, the wet conditions gave me a fright about how my arm would react. I'm responsible for the ups and downs of this match, not my arm."

Looking back on the match, he highlighted the quality of his opponent's play, which was very aggressive, while acknowledging the difficulties encountered during the match: "I hadn't seen him much in matches or training, and it was the first time I'd played against him. I think he deserves his ATP ranking and his level of tennis impressed me. He played really well. If he keeps this up, I think he'll go very far and break into the top 100.

He started to play better, but it's true that I had my ups and downs in the match. I played well in the first and second sets, then had a bit of trouble. He stepped up his game and increased the speed of his balls. He didn't let me get into the rhythm and really dominated most of the points in the third set. I had to fight my way back, overcoming problems on serve, but I'm happy to have won."