Zverev Begins Roland Garros With Ease

There will be no first-round exit for Alexander Zverev at Roland Garros this year. The 6’6” German dominated his opener on Sunday, cruising past Lithuania’s Ricardas Berankis 6-1, 6-1, 6-2 in only 69 minutes. The second seed hit 11 aces and dropped only four points on his first serve (27/31).

Last year, Zverev, after winning his maiden ATP World Tour Masters 1000 title in Rome, lost to Fernando Verdasco in the first round in Paris. Zverev is now a two-time clay-court Masters 1000 titlist after winning the Mutua Madrid Open earlier this month (d. Thiem), and he’s looking to reach his first Grand Slam quarter-final this fortnight.

“On clay especially I have been playing well… I have won two tournaments (Munich, Madrid), made the finals in Rome; again, losing to Rafa in a close match. I feel good, and today was a good start to the tournament,” Zverev said.

His best showing at a Grand Slam was a fourth-round run at 2017 Wimbledon (l. to Raonic). Zverev made the third round at Roland Garros two years ago. He will next meet Serbian Dusan Lajovic or Czech Jiri Vesely.

The highest-seeded Frenchman in the draw cruised in his opener. Fifteeenth seed Lucas Pouille routed Russian Daniil Medvedev, a titlist in Sydney earlier this year, 6-2, 6-3, 6-4 on Court Philippe-Chatrier. Pouille won 82 per cent of his first-serve points and won almost half of his return points against the 22-year-old Medvedev.

“The beginning of a tournament is always complicated, and it’s reassuring when you have a problem of confidence to realise that you were playing well during training and you could apply the game today,” Pouille said.

“I tried to focus on very simple things. I tried to have a sound and sturdy game without trying any wild things, play effective tennis without trying to shine… I’m very happy with the way I managed to cope with my emotions.”

France’s No. 1 enjoyed his best Roland Garros showing last year when he reached the third round (l. to Ramos-Vinolas). He’s into the second round for the fifth time. Pouille will next meet Brit Cameron Norrie or German Peter Gojowczyk, who finished as the Banque Eric Sturdza Geneva Open runner-up on Saturday (l. to Fucsovics).

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.

In other action, 26^th seed Damir Dzumhur of Bosnia and Herzegovina saved nine of 10 break points to beat American qualifier Denis Kudla 6-4, 6-2, 6-2. Dzumhur, a two-time ATP World Tour titlist, will next meet Radu Albot of Moldova, who came back to beat Frenchman Gregoire Barrere 4-6, 0-6, 7-5, 6-1, 6-2 in two hours and 33 minutes.

“I have sort of lukewarm feelings,” Barrere said. “I’m obviously disappointed to lose like that, but I’m very happy about my playing level for the first three sets. I’ll have to continue playing like that and seizing the game in my hands.”

Did You Know?
Pouille broke into the Top 10 of the ATP Rankings in March for the first time. View ATP Rankings