PARIS: Norway’s Casper Ruud started his bid for a maiden French Open title, after final defeats in each of the past two years, with a comfortable win against Brazilian qualifier Felipe Meligeni Alves on Tuesday.

Ruud, who won clay-court titles in Barcelona and Geneva in the build-up to Roland Garros, cruised to a 6-3, 6-4, 6-3 victory and will next face either Alejandro Davidovich Fokina of Spain or Monegasque qualifier Valentin Vacherot.

“It’s great to be back here at Roland Garros,” he said. “Hopefully I can make it another good year here.”

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Ruud was beaten in straight sets by Novak Djokovic in last year’s final following a one-sided loss to Rafael Nadal in the 2022 showpiece.

He also lost the 2022 US Open final to Carlos Alcaraz.