World No. 3 Alexander Zverev survived another five-set battle, saving a match point against Damir Dzumhur of Bosnia in what was a topsy-turvy third round encounter on Court Philippe Chatrier in Paris on Friday. The German prodigy indeed have to thank his stars as he looked to be going out before making a miraculous escape, eventually triumphing 6-2, 3-6, 4-6, 7-6, 7-5 to reach round four of the French Open in three hours and 54 minutes.
Bidding to get his first win over a top 50 player at a Grand Slam, Zverev muscled his way through the opening set with a combination of power and delicate drop shots. Bullying World No. 29 Dzumhur around the court, the second seed capitalized on his opponent’s mistakes at crucial moments. His first break occurred in the third game when Dzumhur produced a double fault to move him ahead to 2-1. Zverev went on to extend the lead to a double break following another error from the Bosnian. Then after 29 minutes of play, Zverev clinched set number one thanks to a Dzumhur shot drifting beyond the baseline.
Zverev started the second set in the same vein as he secured an early break once again. Zverev continued to out-hit and out-think Dzumhur at almost every juncture. He moved up a gear in the ensuing game to back up his break and take firm control of the proceeding in the contest.
However, suddenly the German’s consistency went for a toss as he failed to prevent Damir from mounting a comeback in the match. The Bosnian broke back in the sixth game to even out the scores at 3-3. Dzumhur’s hot streak continued in the subsequent games as well as twice he caught his rival at the net before hitting a winner down the line to break again in the 8th game. Dzumhur won his fifth game in a row to level the match at one set apiece. Zverev fell away after looking the more dominant player at the beginning of the encounter.
Zverev steadied the ship at the start of the third as he quickly got himself on the board. He couldn’t sustain his momentum for a longer duration, though, as he lost his serve in the third game. But, then Dzumhur helped him by producing an erratic game, committing a string of unforced errors to hand the break right back. However, the relief Zverev felt at that stage was short lived as Dzumhur got the all important break of serve in the ninth game before showing his superior net skills to volley his way to a two sets to one lead in the next game.
The quality of tennis went up a couple of notches in the fourth set as neither player was willing to give an inch to the other. It was Dzumhur who raised the bar of his game first as he smashed a sensational crosscourt winner way beyond Zverev to earn a massive break for a 3-2 advantage. But, Zverev wasn’t willing to go out without a fight as he upped the ante and drew a flurry of errors out of a tense Dzumhur to level the scores at 4 games all.
Thereafter Zverev continued to live dangerously. He fell triple break point down, but somehow managed to save all three including one of them with the assistance of a sublime drop shot before holding to his serve for 5-4. His adventurous shot-making, however, couldn’t save him from dropping his serve in the 11th game. Dzumhur served for the match in the 12th game, but nerves got the better of him as he was easily broken Zverev. At 6-6, set No. 4 moved into a tiebreaker.
The tiebreak was a complete disaster for Dzumhur as he completely went off the boil. Zverev on the other hand was hitting his spots well, surging to a 5-1 lead in no time whatsoever. Minutes later, Zverev took the match into a decider with a straight forward 7-3 victory in the tiebreak.
Dzumhur’s poor run continued in the fifth set as he immediately lost his serve in the opening game. In fact, nobody seemed to get going on serve as both players continued to trade breaks. Zverev could see the finish line at 4-3 when he served to take a 5-3 lead, but lost his concentration, handing the break back to Dzumhur for 4-4.
In the tenth game Zverev was forced to dig incredibly deep to stay alive. He saved a match point after surviving several deuce points before hanging on to his serve. The crucial service hold turned out to be the most pivotal moment of the match as he sprang forward and broke Dzumhur’s serve in the next game. The break gave Zverev the opportunity to serve for the match, which he duly did as he went on to accomplish another come from behind victory.
