Alexander Zverev, one of the best performers on clay courts this year, survived a scare on Wednesday at Roland Garros.

In a match of momentum shifts, the second-seeded German did not play his best tennis in the second round, but recovered from a set and 1-3 deficit to work his way past Dusan Lajovic of Serbia 2-6, 7-5, 4-6, 6-1, 6-2 in three hours and 24 minutes.

Zverev struck 42 winners, but committed 53 unforced errors and was broken five times to equal his best performance in the French capital (2014). He has now won 18 of his past 20 matches and is one victory away from 150 career wins (149-78).

The 21-year-old will next prepare to face Bosnia and Herzegovina’s No. 26 seed Damir Dzumhur on Friday. Dzumhur fought back from a 2-4 deficit in the fifth set to beat Radu Albot of Moldova 6-3, 6-3, 5-7, 1-6, 7-5 in three hours and 47 minutes.

Lajovic barely put a foot wrong in the opener, hitting seven winners and clinching all four of his net points. He bounced back from 0/40 at 5-2, then broke Zverev en route to a 3-1 lead in the second set.

But Zverev began to find his rhythm, particularly on his double-handed backhand, and capitalised on mental fatigue from Lajovic. Zverev let out a celebratory scream upon securing the set – courtesy of a Lajovic groundstroke error.

Lajovic regrouped impressively, and, after an early exchange of breaks, won four out of five games from 2-3 to seize control. Incredibly, Zverev triggered back into life and from 1-1 in the fourth set, the German won the next nine games for a 4-0 lead in the decider.

Zverev has a 32-8 match record on the year, including two successive titles – the BMW Open by FWU (d. Kohlschreiber) and his third ATP World Tour Masters 1000 crown at the Mutua Madrid Open (d. Thiem). He also finished as runner-up during the European clay-court swing at the Internazionali BNL d’Italia (l. to Nadal).

His best showing in 11 previous Grand Slam championship appearances is a fourth-round exit at Wimbledon in 2017.

Lajovic, who beat Jiri Vesely in the first round, recently advanced to his first Masters 1000 quarter-final at the Mutua Madrid Open, which included victories over Richard Gasquet and Juan Martin del Potro.

Did You Know?
Alexander Zverev made his Grand Slam championship debut at Wimbledon in 2015. With a 16-11 overall match record at the majors, his best performance came last year at S.W.19 when he fell to Milos Raonic in the fourth round.

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Is #NextGenATP’s Jaume Munar the most likely man to lead Spanish tennis into the 2020s and become the nation’s greatest hope when Rafael Nadal eventually steps aside (hopefully many years from now)? Maybe. One thing we do know: Munar will try to channel his best Rafa impersonation against Nadal’s great rival, Novak Djokovic, Wednesday at Roland Garros as second-round action begins.

Munar earned his first Grand Slam victory on Monday, coming back from two sets down to beat Spanish tennis icon David Ferrer. The 21-year-old Barcelona resident called it “the most important victory” of his career. 

Next for Munar: 2016 champion Djokovic. Welcome to the big league, Jaume.

Djokovic has looked much more like his old self during the past three weeks, making his first quarter-final and semi-final of the year at the Internazional BNL d’Italia in Rome earlier this month. He routed Rogerio Dutra Silva of Brazil on Monday to kick off his Paris stay. Is Djokovic back for good? How he shapes up against Munar, second on Court Suzanne-Lenglen, will be a telling indicator.

Eighth seed David Goffin and 19-year-old Frenchmen Corentin Moutet follow Djokovic-Munar in another battle of established pro against #NextGenATP player. Goffin made coming back from two sets down look easy on Sunday as he beat Robin Haase 4-6, 4-6, 6-4, 6-1, 6-0. He’ll hope for less drama against Moutet, another contender for the 2018 Next Gen ATP Finals, to be held 6-10 November in Milan.

See Who’s Leading The ATP Race To Milan

On Court Philippe-Chatrier, a pair of Frenchmen will look to please the home crowd and reach the third round. Benoit Paire brings a 2-3 FedEx ATP Head2Head record against 19^th seed Kei Nishikori. The 29-year-old Paire is 0-2 against Nishikori on clay, including a 2013 third-round match at Roland Garros. But don’t underestimate the power of a home crowd behind a player with loads of potential.

Wrapping up play on Court Philippe-Chatrier will be top Frenchman Lucas Pouille and Brit Cameron Norrie, who cracked the Top 100 of the ATP Rankings at No. 85 this week. Pouille eased past 2017 Next Gen ATP Finals qualifier Daniil Medvedev of Russia 6-2, 6-3, 6-4 in the first round.

It’s been 35 years since France’s Yannick Noah won Roland Garros in 1983. No other Frenchman has matched the feat – or won another Grand Slam title – in the Open Era.

Second seed Alexander Zverev will face a confident Dusan Lajovic of Serbia on Court 1. Lajovic made his maiden ATP World Tour Masters 1000 quarter-final in Madrid, but Zverev has also enjoyed quite the clay-court season as well. The 21-year-old has won two titles – Munich and Madrid – and reached another Masters 1000 final in Rome (l. to Nadal).

Read More: Coach Moya’s Takeaways From Nadal’s Win

Fourth seed Grigor Dimitrov has no titles to date on the clay – or at all this year. But it only takes one match to grab momentum. The Bulgarian, who reached the semi-finals at the Rolex Monte-Carlo Masters last month, faces Jared Donaldson of the U.S.

In one of the more intriguing matchups, two-time semi-finalist Dominic Thiem meets a player who beat him on clay just last month. #NextGenATP Greek Stefanos Tsitsipas swept Thiem 6-3, 6-2 en route to his maiden ATP World Tour final at the Barcelona Open Banc Sabadell.

But after that, Thiem beat Nadal en route to his second Masters 1000 final (Madrid) and won his 10^th ATP World Tour title in Lyon.

In other matches worth keeping an eye on, 13^th seed Roberto Bautista Agut will face Colombian Santiago Giraldo; 30^th seed Fernando Verdasco of Spain meets Guido Andreozzi of Argentina; Pablo Carreno Busta, 10^th seed, will try to avoid an upset against Argentina’s Federico Delbonis; 26^th seed Damir Dzumhur of Bosnia and Herzegovina plays Moldova’s Radu Albot; and Frenchman Gilles Simon will try to beat Sam Querrey of the U.S. for the fifth time (Simon leads FedEx ATP Head2Head rivalry 4-3).

Robert Farah clinched his 200th tour-level doubles victory on Tuesday, defeating Max Mirnyi and Philipp Oswald 7-6(3), 7-6(4) alongside partner Juan Sebastian Cabal at Roland Garros. The fifth seeds advanced to the second round after one hour and 52 minutes, winning 76 per cent of second-serve points.

Farah, who turned professional in 2010, recently won his 11th tour-level title with Cabal at the Internazionali BNL d’Italia, beating Pablo Carreno Busta and Joao Sousa in the championship match.

The Colombian Power await Argentina’s Guido Pella and Diego Schwartzman or Antoine Hoang and Ugo Humbert in the second round.

Great Britain’s Ken Skupski and Neal Skupski took just 67 minutes to produce a big upset on Court 15, defeating Americans Mike Bryan and Sam Querrey 7-5, 6-4.

The Open Sud de France champions won 88 per cent of first-serve points (31/35) and converted the only two break points of the match en route to victory. The British brothers, competing for the first time together on the Parisian clay, now hold an 8-3 record at tour-level this season.

Mike Bryan, a two-time champion at the event (2003, 2013), was competing without his injured brother, Bob Bryan, for the first time at a Grand Slam. Bryan/Bryan had contested the past 76 majors together, dating back to 1999 Roland Garros.

Skupski/Skupski will meet German duo Maximilian Marterer and Philipp Petzschner or Italians Daniele Bracciali and Andreas Seppi for a place in the third round.

Reigning Nitto ATP Finals champions Henri Kontinen and John Peers comfortably secured their position in the next round, beating Ilya Ivashka and Karen Khachanov 6-3, 6-2.

Kontinen and Peers wasted little time, cruising past the unseeded duo in 52 minutes, with three breaks of serve. The third seeds will meet Mirza Basic and Damir Dzumhur in the second round. Basic and Dzumhur defeated Albert Ramos-Vinolas and Jiri Vesely 6-4, 6-3.

Mutua Madrid Open champions Nikola Mektic and Alexander Peya continued their fine form on red dirt, defeating Gazprom Hungarian Open winners Dominic Inglot and Franko Skugor 6-4, 6-3. Also in that section of the draw, Raven Klaasen and Michael Venus overcame Frenchmen Corentin Denolly and Alexandre Muller 6-3, 6-3.

The 10th seeds will face another French duo in the second round, after Jonathan Eysseric and Hugo Nys defeated David Marrero and Fernando Verdasco 6-3, 7-5.

Rohan Bopanna and Edouard Roger-Vasselin took just over an hour to defeat #NextGenATP stars Taylor Fritz and Frances Tiafoe 6-3, 6-1, while fellow seeds Julio Peralta and Horacio Zeballos also dropped just four games, beating Hugo Gaston and Clement Tabur 6-2, 6-2.

Unseeded Dutchmen Robin Haase and Matwe Middelkoop charged into the second round after 43 minutes, comfortably beating Japan’s Yoshihito Nishioka and Yuichi Sugita 6-1, 6-2.

Wesley Koolhof and Artem Sitak came from a set down to beat fellow unseeded pairing Andre Begemann and Antonio Sancic 6-7(4), 6-2, 6-4.

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