De Jong met the German Zverev at number three in the world rankings, whom he also lost to in the second round last year. The Alkmaarder started the match well on the main court of Paris and ran to 3-0. However, it was Zverev who took the first set via a tiebreak. De Jong’s resistance was then broken and the German was able to easily run towards the second and third set.
The North Holland tennis player defeated former winner Stanislas Wawrinka in the first round, defeated 19-year-old Italian Federico Cina in the second round and was too strong for Karen Chatsjanov in round three. De Jong was lucky that after his elimination in qualifying he continued as a ‘lucky loser’.
