Tennis-Alcaraz overcomes teething trouble on tweaked serve to beat Michelsen in Tokyo

Carlos Alcaraz shrugged off minor wobbles on ​his retooled serve to dismantle unseeded American Alex Michelsen ​7-6(1) 4-6 6-1 and keep his Japan Open ‌title ​defence on track while several leading players made first-round exits in Tokyo on Thursday.

Alcaraz saved three set points before clinching a see-sawing opening set with a strong display in the ‌tiebreak but continued to experiment with his new sped-up service motion and was broken twice early in the next set. The 23-year-old Spaniard, who had shown glimpses of his best form en route to the US Open quarter-finals last month after his long injury layoff, ‌recovered to move ahead but a double fault in the seventh game handed Michelsen a route back.

Michelsen capitalised and kept ‌his composure in a tense finish to the second set where a fortunate netcord winner left Alcaraz stranded at the baseline and helped the 22-year-old American force a decider. Alcaraz, who led Team Europe to a Laver Cup triumph over Team World on indoor courts in London last weekend, said the relentless rain ⁠in Tokyo ​limited his practice.

"It was a ⁠different feeling. The ball comes bigger. The court performs a little bit slower than the indoor courts for sure, so it was freaky to adjust to ⁠that," Alcaraz said. "It was a little bit frustrating, not being able to play my game, my style, and play aggressive ... it was difficult but ​I'm really happy to accept and understand how I had to play and to get the win at the ⁠end.

"It was really important to have this feeling for the next round, to know what I have to do for the next matches." A couple of breathtaking points ⁠gave ​Alcaraz a 2-0 lead in the final set and the seven-times Grand Slam champion used the launch pad to close out a comfortable victory on a day of big upsets in the ATP 500 tournament.

The top seed's win came after third ⁠seed Taylor Fritz fell to qualifier Jaume Munar 6-7(7) 6-4 6-3, sixth seed Casper Ruud lost to Luciano Darderi 7-6(3) 6-3 ⁠and seventh seed Tommy Paul ⁠suffered a 6-1 6-2 defeat by Alejandro Tabilo. Holger Rune, the former world number four who is stepping up his comeback from an Achilles injury, also crashed out in a 6-3 6-1 loss ‌to Kyrian Jacquet.

Alcaraz plays ‌Italian Matteo Arnaldi next.