Zverev, Djokovic win marathons at French Open

Alexander Zverev survived another tense five-setter at the French Open on Friday, rallying in the fourth and fifth sets to defeat Bosnian Damir Dzumhur 6-2, 3-6, 4-6, 7-6 (3), 7-5 at Roland Garros.

The second-seeded Zverev was on the brink of defeat with Dzumhur, seeded 26th, up 6-5 and serving for the match in the fourth set. Zverev, of Germany, also was down 4-5 in the fifth set in the nearly four-hour match.

“It was a very tight match,” Zverev said, per the ATP website. “It’s normal there were a lot of nerves involved. In that moment (at match point down), it’s all about finding a way. Even if you’re not playing your best, it’s all about finding a way to win and finding the right solution to the right moment.

“I think it was important to see for myself that I can win back-to-back five-set matches and both very difficult physical matches,” continued Zverev. “I was feeling fine physically, so for me that gives me a lot of confidence going deep into the fifth set, and long matches on this kind of surface… [It] gives me a lot of confidence.”

Zverev, who picked up the 150th match win of his career on Friday, had overcome Serbia’s Dusan Lajovic in a five-set thriller in the second round.

Fourth-seeded Bulgarian Grigor Dimitrov wasn’t as lucky in the third round, falling in straight sets to Spaniard Fernando Verdasco, 7-6 (4), 6-2, 6-4. Verdasco, seeded 30th, now gets to face Serbian Novak Djokovic, who knocked off No. 13 seed Roberto Bautista Agut of Spain later in the day, in the fourth round.

“I’m very happy that I was able to beat a player like Grigor for a place in the fourth round in Paris again,” said Verdasco, who reached the fourth round at the event for the seventh time.

He’ll face a stiff test against the No. 20 seed Djokovic as he tries to make it past the fourth round for the first time.

Djokovic, who won the French Open in 2016, showed serious determination in outlasting Bautista Agut in a match that lasted three hours, 48 minutes.

“It was a great fight, almost four hours. Bautista Agut, he’s not going to hand you the win. You have to deserve it,” Djokovic said. “Not having so many matches in the last period, this is great. I mean, of course I don’t want to play four, five hours every match. But I think it was a great test. I had to earn my victory. Last set was actually the best set that I have played so far in the tournament.”

No. 19 seed Kei Nishikori of Japan also continued his strong run on Friday, beating Gilles Simon in straight sets — his third straight win over a Frenchman to start the tournament. He will face No. 7 seed Dominic Thiem of Austria, who beat Italian Matteo Berrettini in four sets, 6-3, 6-7 (5), 6-3, 6-2.

Unseeded Italian Marco Cecchinato also kept up his strong play, beating 10th-seeded Spaniard Pablo Carreno Busta 2-6, 7-6 (5), 6-3, 6-1.

A pair of matches were suspended when rain halted play early Friday and will be finished Saturday. Eighth-seeded David Goffin of Belgium leads Frenchman and No. 32 seed Gael Monfils, 6-7 (6), 6-3, 3-2, while 15th-seeded Lucas Pouille of France dropped the first two sets to Russian Karen Khachanov and trails 3-6, 5-7, 1-1.

–Field Level Media