PARIS: Down 4-1 in the third set, Alexander Zverev decided it was time to shorten his match at the French Open on Wednesday.

He was determined to avoid another lengthy fight following a five-set battle in the previous round, so he applied pressure on qualifier Roman Safiullin. The sixth seed German won the next game at love, broke back by pushing his rival into unforced errors and was nearly flawless in the tiebreaker.

The reward was a 7-6 (7-4), 6-3, 7-6 (7-1) victory to advance into the third round at Roland Garros.

Zverev, facing a rival he has known since their days in the boys’ categories, dropped his serve three times on Court Suzanne Lenglen but managed to catch up with Safiullin. It wasn’t smooth he hit 10 double-faults and challenged several calls but he kept his cool when it mattered.

A 25-shot rally in the final tiebreaker epitomized Zverev’s combative attitude. First on the defensive, Zverev turned it around and won the point with a passing shot. He took the next five points to seal the match and extend his perfect record against qualifiers to four matches on the Paris clay.

Zverev has been in excellent form in the buildup to the clay-court major. He is among the top contenders in Paris following his title in Madrid, where he beat Rafael Nadal.

Zverev was joined in the third round by qualifier Henri Laaksonen, who hit 53 winners to upset 11th seed Roberto Bautista Agut 6-3, 2-6, 6-3, 6-2. The 29-year-old Swiss had never beaten a top 20 player before.

In the women’s draw, 2019 runner-up Marketa Vondrousova reached the third round with a 6-1, 6-3 win over wild-card entry Harmony Tan. Earlier, 10th seed Belinda Bencics campaign at Roland Garros ended with a 6-2, 6-2 loss to Daria Kasatkina, while Katerina Siniakova saved two match points to oust 29th-seeded Veronika Kudermetova 7-6 (9-7), 5-7, 7-5.

Ahead of the French Open, Siniakova made a deep run in Parma, where she upset top seed Serena Williams.

Bencic struggled with her serve throughout and was broken four times by her Russian rival. The Swiss player has never progressed past the third round at the French Open in five appearances. Kasatkina made it to the quarter-finals in Paris in 2018, but it’s the first time this season that she has won consecutive matches on clay.

Williams was scheduled to play later on Wednesday against Mihaela Buzarnescu of Romania. The 23-time Grand Slam champion will try to get back to the third round at Roland Garros a year after she withdrew from the tournament before her second match because of an injured left Achilles.

Meanwhile, big guns Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal began their bids for Grand Slam history with comfortable wins on Tuesday. World No.1 Djokovic kicked off his bid for a 19th Grand Slam title with a 6-2, 6-4, 6-2 win over Tennys Sandgren inside an empty stadium.

Nadal, the 13-time champion and chasing a record-setting 21st major, defeated Alexei Popyrin of Australia 6-3, 6-2, 7-6 (7-3). The Spaniard now has 101 wins against just two losses at the tournament.

Top seed Djokovic saw off world No.66 Sandgren in straight sets for his fourth win in four meetings with the American. However, a French government Covid-19 curfew of 9pm meant that his evening session match at the 15,000-capacity Court Philippe Chatrier was played out to rows of empty seats.

The 2016 champion is attempting to become the first man in more than 50 years to win all four Slams multiple times as the Serb fired 33 winners and broke serve five times as he set up a clash with Pablo Cuevas of Uruguay for a place in the last 32.

Nadal, meanwhile, has now won 26 sets in a row at the tournament despite being 2-5 down in the third set, saving two set points. He next faces 34-year-old Richard Gasquet with Nadal leading 16-0.

Italian 37-year-old Andreas Seppi, playing in his 63rd successive Grand Slam, stunned 20th seeded Felix Auger-Aliassime 6-3, 7-6 (10-8), 4-6, 6-4.

Venus Williams, playing the tournament for the 24th time and a runner-up 19 years ago, saw her 89th Grand Slam end as Russia’s Ekaterina Alexandrova eased to a 6-3, 6-1 win.

Carla Suarez Navarro came close to winning her first match back after recovering from cancer, but bowed out 3-6, 7-6 (7-4), 6-4 at the hands of Sloane Stephens.

Results on Wednesday (prefix number denotes seeding):

Men’s singles:

Second round: 6-Alexander Zverev (Germany) bt Roman Safiullin (Russia) 7-6 (7-4), 6-3, 7-6 (7-1); Laslo Djere (Serbia) bt Miomir Kecmanovic (Serbia) 4-6, 4-6, 6-3, 6-2, 6-3; Henri Laaksonen (Switzerland) bt 11-Roberto Bautista Agut (Spain) 6-3, 2-6, 6-3, 6-2; 15-Casper Ruud (Norway) bt Kamil Majchrzak (Poland) 6-3, 6-2, 6-4; 27-Fabio Fognini (Italy) bt Marton Fucsovics (Hungary) 7-6 (8-6), 6-1, 6-2; Federico Delbonis (Argentina) bt Pablo Andujar (Spain) 4-6, 6-1, 3-6, 6-3, 6-2; 31-John Isner (US) bt Filip Krajinovic (Serbia) 7-6 (8-6), 6-1, 7-6 (7-5).

Women’s singles:

Second round: Danielle Collins (US) bt Anhelina Kalinina (Ukraine) 6-0, 6-2; Elena Vesnina (Russia) bt 11-Petra Kvitova (Czech Republic) — walkover; Tamara Zidansek (Slovenia) bt Madison Brengle (US) 6-4, 6-1; Katerina Siniakova (Czech Republic) bt 29-Veronika Kudermetova (Russia) 7-6 (9-7), 5-7, 7-5; Sorana Cirstea (Romania) bt Martina Trevisan (Italy) 6-4, 3-6, 6-4; Daria Kasatkina (Russia) bt 10-Belinda Bencic (Switzerland) 6-2, 6-2 Polona Hercog (Slovenia) bt Caroline Garcia (France) 7-5, 6-4; 20-Marketa Vondrousova (Czech Republic) bt Harmony Tan (France) 6-1, 6-3; 33-Paula Badosa (Spain bt Danka Kovinic (Montenegro) 6-2, 6-0; Ana Bogdan (Romania) bt 2-Naomi Osaka (Japan) — walkover.

Tuesday’s remaining results:

Men’s singles:

First round: 1-Novak Djokovic (Serbia) bt Tennys Sandgren (US) 6-2, 6-4, 6-2; Pablo Cuevas (Uruguay) bt Lucas Pouille (France) 6-3, 6-1, 6-3; 9-Matteo Berrettini (Italy) bt Taro Daniel (Japan) 6-0, 6-4, 4-6, 6-4; Federico Coria (Argentina) bt Feliciano Lopez (Spain) 6-3, 7-6 (7-4), 6-2; Soonwoo Kwon (South Korea) bt Kevin Anderson (South Africa) 7-5, 6-4, 2-6, 7-6 (7-4); Andreas Seppi (Italy) bt 20-Felix Auger-Aliassime (Canada) 6-3, 7-6 (10-8), 4-6, 6-4; 3-Rafael Nadal (Spain) bt Alexei Popyrin (Australia) 6-3, 6-2, 7-6 (7-3); Richard Gasquet (France) bt Hugo Gaston (France) 6-1, 6-4, 6-2; 10-Diego Schwartzman (Argentina) bt Lu Yen-Hsun (Taiwan) 6-2, 6-2, 6-3; Philipp Kohlschreiber (Germany) bt Fernando Verdasco (Spain) 7-6 (7-3), 6-2, 2-6, 6-4; Jan-Lennard Struff (Germany) bt 8-Andrey Rublev (Russia) 6-3, 7-6 (8-6), 4-6, 3-6, 6-4.

Women’s singles:

First round: Magda Linette (Poland) bt Chloe Paquet (France) 6-3, 6-3; 24-Coco Gauff (US) bt Aleksandra Krunic (Serbia) 7-6 (13-11), 6-4; Wang Qiang (China) bt Hsieh Su-Wei (Taiwan) 2-6, 6-4, 7-5; 9-Karolina Pliskova (Czech Republic) bt Donna Vekic (Croatia) 7-5, 6-4; Varvara Lepchenko (US) bt Zhang Shuai (China) 6-3, 6-3; 18-Karolina Muchova (Czech Republic) bt Andrea Petkovic (Germany) 1-6, 6-3, 6-4; 32-Ekaterina Alexandrova (Russia) bt Venus Williams (US) 6-3, 6-1; 30-Anett Kontaveit (Estonia) bt Viktorija Golubic (Switzerland) 6-7 (4-7), 7-6 (7-5), 6-0.

Published in Dawn, June 3rd, 2021