Zverev cruises past Safiullin to R3 of Roland Garros

Alexander Zverev rallies several times in the match to win over Roman Safiullin in straight sets.

Alexander Zverev is the first big name to advance to R3 after he defeated Roman Safiullin 7-6(4) 6-3 7-6(1). It was a good showing by Zverev, especially after his extremely tough first-round matchup. The first set was a very interesting one where Zverev only found a breakthrough late.

He was up 6-5 and served for the set but Safiullin forced a tiebreak. Even so, Zverev remained cool to win it 7-4. The 2nd set was not a very good one for Zverev initially. He was down 1-3 but won 5 games in a row to win the set 6-3. A majestic comeback just in time to avoid losing the set.

He repeated it once more in the 3rd set where he once more was down 1-3. This time around he needed to go to the tiebreak to win it. Safiullin lost the tiebreak 1-7 completely collapsing when it mattered the most.

It was a trend that followed him in this match especially when he took the lead. He led in two sets but failed to win either and that is not good enough against a player like Zverev.