Zverev cruises into French Open round two
PARIS :Last year's runner-up Alexander Zverev cantered into the second round of the French Open with a dominant 6-3 6-3 6-4 victory over American Learner Tien on Tuesday.
The German third seed, still chasing an elusive maiden Grand Slam title, broke once in each set to advance comfortably and set up a meeting with Jesper De Jong of the Netherlands or Italian Francesco Passaro.
"It was a good start to the tournament," said Zverev.
I'm happy with the three-set win, usually it's more four or five sets in first matches. Hopefully it will continue like this and it will be a fun two weeks here."
The fact that Tien, the world 67, had already beaten him, helped Zverev keep his feet on the ground throughout on court Suzanne Lenglen.
"He beat a lot of great opponents - (Daniil) Medvedev at the Australian Open and me in Acapulco," Zverev recalled.
"He is going climb up the rankings. Today it helped that I played him once before, maybe it helped that I lost also to him. I am happy with the performance all around."
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
CNA
an hour ago
- CNA
UK moving to 'war-fighting readiness' as it unveils results of strategic defence review
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer says the UK is moving to 'war-fighting readiness,' as he warned the frontline is already within the country. He was announcing the results of the Strategic Defence Review, the first big-picture look at the role of Britain's Armed Forces since Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022. Stuart Smith reports.
Straits Times
an hour ago
- Straits Times
Andreeva keeps Kasatkina's wristband as reminder of French Open win
PARIS - Russian teenager Mirra Andreeva will hang on to the sweat-soaked wristband that Australia's Daria Kasatkina jokingly threw towards her at the net as a souvenir of their entertaining French Open clash on Monday. The prodigious 18-year-old underlined her credentials as a Roland Garros title contender by outwitting her frequent practice partner and 17th seed Kasatkina 6-3 7-5 to storm into the quarter-finals for a second straight year. Last year's semi-finalist approached the net to shake the hand of the Russian-born Kasatkina after the match and was met with a soggy wristband flying in her direction instead. "She's a great person and a great player. I had a feeling that after the match she's going to do something like this, and I knew that if I would lose I would also do something funny," sixth seed Andreeva told reporters. "When she threw her wristband at me, it was funny. It was a nice gesture from her. "After that, we exchanged kind words, and she told me congratulations. Of course, I said it was a good match. I kept the wristband so it's going to be in my bag for now." Andreeva joked in her on-court interview that she practised with Kasatkina only because she "hated" her and later said that a changed mindset helped her avenge a three-set defeat by the 28-year-old in the Ningbo final last year. "When I first played Dasha, it was much more difficult for me to stay focused and not to be nice on the court," she said. "Compared to the last match, today I knew that she's going to want to beat me on the court. I don't know what changed, but today was not that hard to change my mindset and step on court and be opponents. "I don't know how, but I managed to tell myself that I'm playing against the ball, not against the opponent. I just tried to focus on the ball that I have to hit, and I was able to keep this focus throughout the whole match so I'm proud of myself." REUTERS Join ST's Telegram channel and get the latest breaking news delivered to you.
CNA
an hour ago
- CNA
Andreeva keeps Kasatkina's wristband as reminder of French Open win
PARIS :Russian teenager Mirra Andreeva will hang on to the sweat-soaked wristband that Australia's Daria Kasatkina jokingly threw towards her at the net as a souvenir of their entertaining French Open clash on Monday. The prodigious 18-year-old underlined her credentials as a Roland Garros title contender by outwitting her frequent practice partner and 17th seed Kasatkina 6-3 7-5 to storm into the quarter-finals for a second straight year. Last year's semi-finalist approached the net to shake the hand of the Russian-born Kasatkina after the match and was met with a soggy wristband flying in her direction instead. "She's a great person and a great player. I had a feeling that after the match she's going to do something like this, and I knew that if I would lose I would also do something funny," sixth seed Andreeva told reporters. "When she threw her wristband at me, it was funny. It was a nice gesture from her. "After that, we exchanged kind words, and she told me congratulations. Of course, I said it was a good match. I kept the wristband so it's going to be in my bag for now." Andreeva joked in her on-court interview that she practised with Kasatkina only because she "hated" her and later said that a changed mindset helped her avenge a three-set defeat by the 28-year-old in the Ningbo final last year. "When I first played Dasha, it was much more difficult for me to stay focused and not to be nice on the court," she said. "Compared to the last match, today I knew that she's going to want to beat me on the court. I don't know what changed, but today was not that hard to change my mindset and step on court and be opponents. "I don't know how, but I managed to tell myself that I'm playing against the ball, not against the opponent. I just tried to focus on the ball that I have to hit, and I was able to keep this focus throughout the whole match so I'm proud of myself."
