Third round of the French Open
Will Alexander Zverev live up to his role as favorite?
Updated May 29, 2026 – 9:58 p.mReading time: 3 minutes
The German tennis star can take another step towards his first Grand Slam title in Paris. Does it work?
Alexander Zverev will face Quentin Halys in the third round of the French Open on Friday evening. After the surprising exit of number one seed Jannik Sinner and record Grand Slam winner Novak Djoković, the German is considered the big favorite to win the tournament.
- Clear words from Sinner: Top favorite gives real reason for his exit
“If I can judge it from Alexander Zverev’s perspective: There is no player I have to be afraid of,” said Boris Becker at Eurosport.
You can follow Alexander Zverev’s game against Halys here in the live ticker.
+++ UPDATE HERE +++
Quentin Halys – Alexander Zverev 2:2
1st set, 2:2 – Ohhh. A Zverev double fault at the start of the fourth game of this game, the audience takes notice. He can’t let the audience influence him now. He immediately followed up with two service winners and the first serve was right again. But Halys defends well, Zverev stays in the net again with a forehand. Then a stop is too long, Halys runs it – and has a break ball himself. He uses the first one straight away – with a bit of luck in a great rally. Zverev can still run a net roller, but he can’t bring Halys’ counterattack back. The viewers have now finally woken up.
1st set, 1:2 – Now Halys wants to go: A serve at 207 kilometers per hour for the service winner makes the audience in the Chatrier cheer. But then he makes an unforced forehand error in the next rally, bringing Zverev back in. Halys now varies, comes to the net, catches the hamburger on the wrong foot. He responds in the next rally with a powerful forehand that Halys can only bring back into the net. With a forehand longline he wins his first game and is now fully in the match.
1st set, 0:2 – The German starts his first service game with concentration: a service winner, but then he gets stuck in the net with a forehand. But he is not impressed: Halys cannot do anything against his serve at 204 kilometers per hour. Zverev follows up with a forehand winner and finally pulls his serve directly to Halys, who has not yet found his way into the game.
