Zverev: “It was a great win”

 

Originally published on 01/06/18 00:00

Sascha Zverev defeated Damir Dzumhur 6-2 3-6 4-6 7-6(3) 7-5 to equal his best ever Grand Slam result which he achieved at Wimbledon 2017. “Hopefully I will be on this court for many more years, and for many more times.” he said.

If brother Mischa defeats Kevin Anderson tomorrow to progress to the round of 16, the Zverevs would be only the third pair of brothers to reach the fourth round at the same major in the Open era – after Gene and Sandy Mayer in 1979 at Wimbledon and Emilio and Javier Sanchez at 1991 US Open.

 

Grigor Dimitrov’s Roland Garros came to an end at the hands of Fernando Verdasco.  Surprisingly perhaps the No 4 seed Dimitrov has never beaten a player ranked in the Top 50 at Roland Garros. The highest ranked player he has defeated here is No 50 Donald Young in the first round in 2012. By reaching the third round here he had equaled his best Roland Garros performance.

“I definitely need to take some time off now to kind of reassess the whole clay court season, to be honest. I think that’s going to be the number one priority for me now to kind of step out from the tennis for a little bit, try to watch some matches and try to progress somehow and just get better.”

Asked whether seeding matters, he said, “Fernando, he’s not a high seed, but he played an absolutely stunning match. What can I say?”

 

Novak Djokovic smashed his racket during the tiebreak in the second set, but went on to defeat Roberto Bautista Agut 7-6 6-7(3) 7-6 (4) 6-2. Asked afterwards about the racket, he said “At times in my career, these kind of situations, when I would scream or throw a racquet, it would kind of wake me up and help me to just kind of free myself from that pressure that is just building throughout the match, but there are times when it doesn’t help. So it’s really hard to say what’s the right thing to do. I’m not proud of doing that, to be honest. I don’t like doing that. But at times, it happens,” he said.

 

Other wins: Kei Nishikori defeated Gilles Simon; Marco Cecchinato defeated Pablo Carreno Busta, Dominic Thiem beat Matteo Berrettini

 

Round of 16 (bottom half)

David Goffin/Gael Monfils v Marco Cecchinato

Novak Djokovic v Fernando Verdasco

Dominic Thiem v Kei Nishikori

Lucas Pouille/Karen Khachanov v Alexander Zverev

 

Women

Fourth seed Elina Svitolina was defeated by Roland Garros main draw debutante Mihaela Buzarnescu. The Romanian ranked No 33 and seeded for the first time at Grand Slam was ranked No 377 12 months ago. She has posted more wins than any other played in the last year, with a 78:25 win: loss record, which includes ITF circuit matches.

“Today, you know, really I was off and couldn’t find my rhythm, my game today,” Svitolina said. “She was playing great tennis. You know, she was really, really on the ball today’

 

Madison Keys hit 30 winners in her match against Naomi Osaka, which she won 6-1 7-6(7). The big hitting American will face Mihaela Buzarnescu in the next round.

 

21 year-old Daria Kasatkina, who won the junior title at Roland Garros in 2014, took her place in the fourth round defeating Maria Sakkari. She plays Caroline Wozniacki in the round of 16. The 2018 Australian Open champion today defeated French wildcard Pauline Parmentier 6-0 6-3.

 

Round of 16 (Bottom half of draw)

Barbora Strycova v Yulia Putintseva

Madison Keys v Mihaela Buzarnescu

Petra Kvitova/Anett Kontaveit v Camila Giorgi/Sloane Stephens

Daria Kasatkina v Caroline Wozniacki

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