Roland Garros 2024 Men’s Day 7

Alexander Zverev fought off a huge challenge from fired-up Dutchman Tallon Griekspoor, escaping into the French Open fourth round on Saturday 3-6, 6-4, 6-2, 4-6, 7-6 (10-3) after more than four hours on court.

The German fourth seed squeezed in as he extended his current win streak to nine matches after last mouth’s Rome title.

Zverev did it tough as Griekspoor worked to try and become the first from his country to defeat a Top 10 player at a major since Sjeng Schalken beat No. 8 Rainer Schuettler at 2003 US Open.

Zverev, involved in Berlin legal proceedings for domestic violence charges by a former partner, managed to hold on, overcoming a double break in the final set, and taking it into a best-to-10 match tiebreaker.

The three-time Paris finalist seed made up the gap from 4-1 down in the set, levelling at 4-all and stretching the epic into the deciding breaker, which he won; he improved to 9-1 in five-set matches at Roland Garros.

“When you are down 4-1 double break, especially against such a big server like
him in the fifth set, you don’t always win,” Zverev said.

“So, obviously, extremely happy that I did.”

He added: “There’s a very small chance you’re going to come back.

“I felt like I played a really, really good game at 4-1 down.

“4-3 I think he started to think. Then obviously in the tiebreak, I feel like the tiebreak was my best tennis throughout the entire match.” 

Zverev, a three-time semi-finalist here, began the tournament with a defeat of Rafael Nadal; he overcame  41 unforced errors against Griekspoor, 

The nervous winner confessed that he was set up to take the loss and leave Paris.

“Oh, my God, I already had a full speech for every single team member of my team ready. I already knew what I was going to tell my coach. I already knew what I was going to tell my hitting partner. 

“I already knew what I was going to tell my physical trainer. I already had it all prepared. I was going to give them so much shit. You can’t imagine.”

It took nearly three and a half hours under the covered Lenglen court for fifth seed Daniil Medvedev to get past Tomas Machac 7-6 (4), 7-5, 1-6, 6-4.

The Czech challenger, wearing “bumblee” kit which included black short-shorts, finally blinked as he smashed an easy overhead into the net.

The fifth seed was quick to react, claiming victory a point later on a Machac error, his 61st unforced of the rainy afternoon.

“It was a very tough match, I was able to stay steady at the end,” the winner said. “I’m happy to go through.”

Felix Auger-Aliassime finished off a victory interrupted on Friday by rain, with the Canadian putting out American Bryan Shelton 6-4, 6-2, 6-1.

“We started at night yesterday and finished today, so obviously, that’s

tricky,” the winner said. “. It was fortunate that I was able to break yesterday before the stoppage.

“I’m so happy with how everything went.”

FAA advanced into a fourth round match with Carlos Alcaraz thanks to 28 winners while Shelton was plagued by 36 unforced errors.

There was no repeat for Canadian compatriot Denis Shapovalov, who went down in the conclusion of a rain-hit match from the night before, losing 6-3, 7-6 (0), 4-6, 6-1 to Polish eighth seed Hubert Hurkacz,

“You’ve just got to manage yourself the best you can in the (rain) breaks, try to stay relaxed, not to focus too much on the match, because you don’t want to burn further energy,” Hurkacz said.

“Then when it’s time, just get ready for it and go.”

Australian Alex de Minaur broke new ground on clay, earning his career-best result on the surface with a trip into the fourth round after defeating German’s Jan-Lennard Struff 4-6, 6-4, 6-3, 6-2.