By Leobert Julian A. de la Peña
Alexander Zverev continued his dominant run in the ongoing French Open after sweeping Slovak Alex Molcan- 6.4, 6.2, 6.1- to advance to the third round of the Grand Slam tournament last June 2, 2023.
After a straight-set win against Lloyd Harris during his opening campaign, the former world no. 2 male tennis player showed consistency and had a better baseline defense game against Molcan.
Despite a 3-0 win over Harris, Zverev was taken to the brink of elimination in the first two sets but was able to weather the storm after a close 7-6, 7-6 clash.
The German tennis ace then made sure no slow starts will be seen against the Slovak and immediately went off to the races after scoring consecutive forehand bombs.
Zverev then took care of his service possessions and failed to give up a single break point midway through their clash.
With Zverev getting it going in all departments, Molcan could only watch the former champion operate and dictate the pace that he wanted.
The Slovak showed different ways to score at the beginning of the third set after wowing the crowd with a series of point-to-point ball saves but Zverev spoiled his momentum after clinching back-to-back down-the-line winners.
Molcan unleashed one last run midway through the third set after deciding to fight fire with fire against Zverev but the German star wrapped things up with his powerful groundstrokes to score his second-straight 3-0 victory in the French Open.
Zverev led the service ace section by a wide margin, tallying six service winners built from a 77%-win rate in all of his first serves.
Up next for the current world no. 22 male tennis player is a fellow young star Frances Tiafoe in the third round of the tourney.
