German tennis star Alexander Zverev has reached the second round of the French Open with great difficulty. Against Cologne qualifier Oscar Otte, Zverev lost the first two sets, turned the game because Otte could not keep up physically in the later sets. 3:6, 3:6, 6:2, 6:2, 6:0 won Zverev.
But against Otte Zverev did not find his rhythm. The world ranking sixth did not move well and, as so often in the past, was too far behind the baseline. Otte, who had qualified for the main draw with three wins in the qualifying round, played carefree on the other hand.
Again and again Otte duped the big favorite with strong stop balls. At the beginning of the third set, Zverev briefly went to the ground in a fall. But this scene did not become a symbol image.
Otte breaks in
Instead, Zverev got better, while Otte could not maintain his high level and repeatedly swallowed net balls. Zverev took the third set and at the latest after his break to 3:2 in the fourth round he had managed the turn. After 2: 49 hours, Zverev used his first match ball.
Earlier, Austrian Dominic Thiem was defeated in five sets by Spaniard Pablo Andujar. On the world ranking fourth, against whom Zverev failed in the final at the US Open last year, Zverev could have met in the quarterfinals.
