PARIS (Reuters) -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.”
(Reporting by Julien Pretot; Editing by Ed Osmond)
