Alexander Zverev continues to take the scenic route at Grand Slams. Of course, for him taking any route at all to the second week is–pun intended–a major victory.
Zverev survived his second five-setter of this fortnight, scraping past Dusan Lajovic 6-4, 6-2, 4-6, 1-6, 6-2 during third-round action on Saturday afternoon. The German previously held off John Millman in five before taking care of Mikael Ymer in a straight-set second-rounder.
A quarterfinalist at Roland Garros last year, Zverev has never been to the semis of a slam and this marks just his fourth trip to the fourth round (he also made appearances in the last 16 at Wimbledon in 2017 and earlier this season in Australia).
“(There is) not less pressure; just…I think I have been talked about less, which is a very nice thing,” the fifth seed explained. “People talk about obviously Rafa, Novak, and all those guys, but (Stefanos) Tsitsipas much, much more, which is, for me, very nice. He deserves to have a lot of credit and also how he’s been playing has been great. So it kind of takes away attention from me a little bit, and for me this is a very nice thing to have.”
What’s also nice to have is Zverev’s record in French Open fifth sets, which is now 5-0–with all five such wins coming in 2018 and 2019.
“I don’t think I have ever lost in five sets here,” the 22-year-old commented, correctly. “It’s a good thing to have in the back of your head. Hopefully I can continue this run. We’ll see how it goes. They didn’t explain me the rules of five sets yet, so somebody needs to tell me I don’t necessarily need to play five sets every time I step on the court.”
All jokes aside, the Germans–or two of them, at least–are getting the job done so far at Roland Garros. Zverev is often left on his own now that Tommy Haas is retired and Philipp Kohlschreiber is seemingly past his prime, but the world No. 5 and 2017 Nitto ATP Finals champion is joined in the second week this time around by countryman Jan-Lennard Struff.
In the midst of by far his best season on tour, the 29-year-old Struff triumphed in a 4-6, 6-1, 4-6, 7-6(1), 11-9 marathon against Borna Coric that lasted four hours and 22 minutes. Struff twice broke back in the fifth set, including once when Coric served for the match at 7-6.
Next up for the world No. 45 is top-ranked Novak Djokovic, while Zverev will face Fabio Fognini.
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nice one, Struff