Fourth seed Alexander Zverev came back from a double break down in the fifth set to beat Tallon Griekspoor 3-6 6-4 6-2 3-6 7-6 (10-3) under the roof of Phillippe Chatrier at Roland Garros. 

Zverev improved his record to 31-9 this season, including a 13-3 on clay. 

Griekspoor went up a 3-0 lead with a break in the second game. The Dutchman held on his serve and served out the first set 6-3 on his third set point in the ninth game. 

Zverev fought back after losing the first set to go up 2-1. The German player broke serve in the 10^th game to close out the second set 6-4. 

Zverev broke twice in the second and eighth game to seal the third set 6-2. Griekspoor converted his second break point in the fifth game to close out 6-4. 

Griekspoor earned break in the first game of the fifth set. The Dutchman went up a double break to race out to a 4-1 lead. Griekspoor made his second break point of the game to face a break point, as he was serving at 4-3 30-30. Zverev pulled one break back for 2-4. 

Zverev broke for the second time in the eighth game to draw level to 4-4 as Griekspoor hit a backhand into the net. Zverev hit his 10^th ace to hold for 6-5. Griekspoor held serve to force the fifth set to the tie-break. 

Griekspoor earned an early mini-break at the start of the tie-break, as Zverev sailed a drive. Zverev hit a crosscourt volley winner for 2-1. Zverev extended his lead to 6-2 with an inside-out forehand winner.

Zverev hit a two-handed pass down the line for 8-2 and hit his 11^th ace to close out the match after 4 hour and 14 minutes. 

Zverev improved to 4-1 in his head-to-head matches against Grieekspoor. 

Zverev hit 55 winners and committed 41 unforced errors. The three-time Roland Gaarros will face either Holger Rune or Jozef Kovalik. 

Zverev has won nine consecutive matches on clay for the first time since 2018, when he won 13 straight matches on this surface at Munich, Madrid and Rome. Earlier this month he won at Rome Masters 1000 for the second time in his career. He opened this year’s edition of Roland Garros with a win over Rafael Nadal in the first round. 

“It was an incredible match. He is unbelievably dangerous. I always struggle against him. I don’t like to play against him, but all the credit to him, taking all the way. It was on or two points here and there. He is an incredible player and fighter until the end”, said Zverev. 

After busting a two set lead and trailing 0-5 in the super tiebreak the “bad boy” of the tour delves into his talent to survive

Seldom had we seen Holger Rune play such a straightforward and disciplined tennis, as he did tonight in the first set against Flavio Cobolli, one of the emerging Italian young guns. Accurately aggressive, craftily varying his serve, tactically impeccable when steering the rallies toward the Italian’s softest shot, his backhand, Rune secured the earliest break in the first game and was never to drop his lead, pocketing the first set 6-4.

Comolli raised his game in the second set and started hitting winners off his forehand. Yet it wasn’t enough to pose a real threat. The Dane went on harvesting points with his serve, as well as eliciting errors off his opponent’s left wing. Indeed Comolli surrendered the second set with another sprayed backhand.

The May showers of Paris can play many a trick, and after a one-hour interruption it is a transformed and gutsy Flavio Cobolli who emerges from the locker-room. Suddenly he is able to put pressure and move Rune from side to side, entice him forward, then hit past him. He breaks in the third game and holds it tight, saving five break points in the eighth game displaying deft net skills and rushing off to get yet a second break and the set, 6-3.

When Rune broke in the fifth game of the fourth set, the match seemed about to go his way, but Cobolli bounced back immediately, snatching the break back with a forehand winner. Rune’s confidence was cracked, and suddenly started pouring in unforced errors, as it has often happaned throgout this season. He lost service again and Comolli went on to secure a second 63.   

The decider cruised along with both players holding serve. Rune earned a break point by lifting a spectacular lob after chasing down a ball which Cobolli had dropped close to the net. The Italian pummelled a forehand down the line to save it and dashed to a 0-40 lead on Rune’s serve in the nineth game. It could have been the turning point of the match, but Rune came up with his very best. Mixing up angled and deep pressuring groundstrokes with sudden variations of pace, throwing in some serve and volley, he ended up holding serve.

In terms of quality the match was on fire. Cobolli was sublimely hitting winners with his backhand as well. He soared to a 5-0 lead in the super tiebreak and seemed unstoppable. Then he served a vicious kick serve out wide. Rune lunged forward and pounced on it, firing a winning backhand return down the line. “Stunning shot, how did he make that?” one could cry from the commentary box. Cobolli still rose to 6-2, but it was a last fling. Suddenly he was missing or overhitting his groundstrokes, while Rune was delivering as metronomically as the early stages of the match. A few minutes and Rune turned it all round with an 8-1 winning streak. 10-7 the final score of a memorable super tiebreak.

Sometimes such wins in the first rounds of majors are the prelude to even greater feats. Will Holger Rune live up to such stories?

Fernando Verdasco was spotted earlier this week briefly watching Ons Jabeur play at the French Open but his focus this year is on another player.

The former top 10 player has landed a new coaching job after being hired by compatriot Alejandro Davidovich Fokina. Somebody who he once played a Tour-level doubles match alongside back in 2020. Fokina has opted to stop working with Jorge Aguirre, who has been his mentor since he was a child.

The change comes after what has been a mixed start to the season for Fokina who has only managed to win back-to-back matches in two out of 11 tournaments played before the start of Roland Garros. His sole win over a top 20 player occurred at the start of 2024 when he beat Hubert Hurkacz at the United Cup.  

“I will be very brief. I have left it with Jorge (Aguirre) and I start with Verdasco, with whom I have had a good relationship for years. He has not officially retired, but I knew that he was training other players and it was time,” Fokina told reporters after beating Valentin Vacherot in the first round of the French Open.
“It was time to close a stage and start a new one. With his experience, Verdasco can help me a lot to face the games, to assume that pressure and tension of the competition.”

Verdasco has won seven ATP titles during his career and reached the semi-finals of the 2009 Australian Open. At this year’s Madrid Open, he briefly helped Jabeur whose main coach Issam Jellali was unable to attend the tournament. 

Fokina will next play Casper Ruud in Roland Garros.