Tie-Break King Zverev Powers Through at Roland Garros

| by Alfredo Bassanelli

Alexander Zverev advanced to the second round at the 2023 Roland Garros, besting Lloyd Harris in straight sets.

Entering the match on Court Simonne-Mathieu both players had one thing in common and that was coming back from an injury. While the German managed to stay seeded, Harris dropped down to 294th place, using his protected ranking to enter the tournament.

In the past, the two met three times on the ATP Tour, with Zverev winning in all of the matches. However, for the first time, they met on the clay, and this time, the former world no. 2 was far from his best as he's been struggling with his form lately.

The last three sets that Zverev played at Roland Garros reached a tie-break as he beat Carlos Alcaraz 7-6 in the last set in the quarterfinals last year, and in a match against Rafael Nadal that ended with his horrific injury, the scoreboard showed 7-6, 6-6.

2022 Finalist Gauff Rallies from a Slow Start to Advance at Roland Garros
2022 Finalist Gauff Rallies from a Slow Start to Advance at Roland Garros

And it seemed that the tall German really enjoys playing tie-breaks as he played two also against the South African player. In the first set, neither of the players managed to break and the tie-break was a real battle too.

Zverev had two set points at 6-4, but Harris levelled the score at six-all. But this time, the world no. 27 won the last two points, taking the first set 8-6, in the tie-break.

In the second set, both players broke each other's serve once and Harris even had two set points in the tenth game. But that wasn't enough and a tie-break had to be played once more. This time, Zverev dominated it, winning 7-0 and increasing his lead.

The second-set tie-break maybe served a bit as a prediction for what's to come in the third set as that was also dominated by the 2020 US Open finalist. Zverev won the set 6-1 to win the match and set up a second-round meeting with Alex Molcan from Slovakia.

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