French Open in Paris
Zverev with gala in the next round – drama about opponents
Updated on May 27, 2026 – 10:52 p.mReading time: 8 minutes
The Hamburger has a viable opponent in front of him – and at times he plays himself into a frenzy. Meanwhile, there is a little drama surrounding his opponent.
Powerful, eager to play, dominant: Alexander Zverev quickly reached the third round of the French Open. The world number three, who wants to win the first major title of his career in Paris, easily won 6:4, 6:2, 6:2 against the ailing Czech Tomáš Macháč on Wednesday evening. The 29-year-old from Hamburg reached the third round of Roland Garros for the tenth time in his career and celebrated his 550th victory at tour level.
Zverev left no doubt about the winner from the start of the game on Court Philippe-Chatrier. When the score was 1:4 in the second set, Macháč took a medical time-out during which his left foot was treated. As a result, he played visibly inhibited and struggled at times. Zverev wasn’t impressed by this either and ended the game after 1:48 hours with the second match point. and is fully on track. In the last five editions he reached at least the semi-finals four times in the French capital, and in 2024 he lost to Carlos Alcaraz in the final. The Spaniard is missing this year due to a wrist injury – so Zverev, who now meets Frenchman Quentin Halys, believes he has a real chance of winning the coup despite the recent dominance of South Tyrolean Jannik Sinner.
The match to read in the ticker:
Tomáš Macháč – Alexander Zverev 4:6, 2:6, 2:6
3rd set, 4:6, 2:6, 2:6 – Zverev actually lands a backhand out of bounds again and can’t believe it. Then ace number 18, he has two match points. He misses the first with a double fault – and then moves into round 3 of this French Open with ace number 19. 19 aces, 45 winning strokes – dIt was a very strong performance from the German, who played his game in a stable, serious and focused manner in the face of an opponent who had nothing to counter him, at least after his injury.
3rd set, 4:6, 2:6, 2:5 – … and actually shortened it again. It wasn’t about anything more than that. Now Alexander Zverev can serve out.
3rd set, 4:6, 2:6, 1:5 – This is happening very quickly here. Zverev makes it 5:1 (of course to zero). Now Macháč is serving against the loss of the match…
3rd set, 4:6, 2:6, 1:4 – Macháč now wants to keep the rallies short and doesn’t want to put any strain on his left foot. His game suffers as a result, and his shots don’t work every now and then. And Zverev takes advantage of that. He finishes with a stop and the Czech doesn’t even try to run for the ball again. Next break.
