Alexander Zverev is one of the favorites to win a medal at the 2024 Paris Olympics, and he's certainly been playing that way after yet another win over Tomas Machac.
The German made the Roland Garros final two months ago, which is the main reason why he has a real chance at winning the medal at the Olympic Games, which are played at Roland Garros.
After all, it's the same courts and fairly similar conditions with the best-of-three format. Zverev has generally been a standout performer at Roland Garros in recent years, making the semi-final a couple of years in a row before finally making the final this year.
He was very competitive in the final match this year as well, but ultimately, he lost in five sets. He's been playing at a high level this year and is generally very good at clay.
The first match in the French capital at under five rings proved that, as he smashed Jaume Munar easily in two sets. His second-round match wasn't that dissimilar, even though he faced a more dangerous player.
Machac has exceptional talent but still struggles with consistency. The Czech player broke first in this match. He led 1-0 after the first game, but fairly quickly, Zverev turned it around for a 2-1 lead.
More solid play from the German made it a 5-2 lead, and from there, he had an easy time winning the set 6-3. As has been the case recently, Zverev is the most aggressive player, totaling more than 10 winners compared to only 4 from Machac.
The Czech player also made 8 unforced errors, which was not good enough. Zverev started the second set with an early break, too, but Machac was able to dig up some nice shots to break back and make it 2-2.
It happened partly because the two-time major finalist struggled with his serve at the start of the second set, and that's a big issue. His serve is at the center of what he does, so when that is not clicking, he could struggle.
Machac generally played a lot better in the second set. He was being more aggressive and had more success actually outhitting his opponent this time around. The German didn't respond quite well to it initially but, over time, got used to it and was able to push his opponent in a few games.
Still, after 9 games, it was 5 for Machac and 4 for Zverev. A challenging match like this is actually really good for Zverev to test him a little bit, and if he passes the test, it should build even more confidence than he already has in himself.
After surviving yet another tricky game, Zverev pushed really hard to try and finally break through at 5-5. He started well by winning the first point and then two more for a 40-0 lead on the serve of Machac. He would then convert on the first attempt and take a 6-5 lead, which he then held to win the match in two sets, 6-2, 7-5.