On the back of his straight sets victory, the German will next face former World No. 4 Kei Nishikori in Paris.
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Sixth-seed Alexander Zverev reached the French Open fourth round on Friday with a 6-2, 7-5, 6-2 victory over Laslo Djere of Serbia under a closed roof on Court Philippe-Chatrier. Barring the second set, the 24-year-old had a relatively comfortable evening. The German saved three set points at 4-5 in the second set and subsequently won nine of the next 11 games to ease his way into the next round. Zverev has continued his good run of form this season, which includes two titles at the Abierto Mexicano Telcel presentado por HSBC and the Mutua Madrid Open.
“I was down 3-5, 40-0 on his serve and you don’t always come back from that score,” said Zverev. “He played a fantastic match, he is playing great on this surface so I knew I had to play much, much better than the first two rounds and I did that today.
“I am happy that the further we go in the tournament the better I start hopefully playing. This is the main goal of my tennis career, to win Grand Slams and I feel in the past year-and-a-half I am on a very good [path] again and I hope I can continue.”
Zverev hit 31 winners and converted seven of 10 break points for victory in two hours and eight minutes. The German started on a positive note and eased his way to bag the first set as his opponent struggled to cope. However, Zverev suffered a dip at the start of the second set with Djere breaking to love to move 2-0 ahead. At 5-4, Djere had a chance to bag the set but he failed to convert a 40/0 lead as the German saved three set points.
There was no stopping the German since then with Zverev winning nine of the next 11 games. He will next face former World No. 4 Kei Nishikori of Japan. Nishikori overcame qualifier Henri Laaksonen to reach the fourth round in Paris. Laaksonen was forced to retire after losing the first set 7-5 due to a thigh injury.
Elsewhere, Federico Delbonis reached the fourth round of a Grand Slam for the first time. He remained solid in a rain-interrupted match to register a 6-4, 6-1, 6-3 victory over Fabio Fognini in two hours and six minutes.
