Alexander Zverev was made to work hard to reach the second round of the French Open with a 7-6 (7-4) 6-3 2-6 6-7 (5-7) 6-3 win over Australian John Millman on Tuesday. The German fifth seed, looking for a major breakthrough on the Grand Slam stage, needed more than four hours to see off the world number 56 and set up a meeting with Swedish qualifier Mikael Ymer. The 22-year-old Zverev, one of the leading figures of the sport’s ‘new generation’, claimed his best result at a major when he reached the quarter-finals at Roland Garros last year. For a moment, it seemed he could be sent packing on his first day on court. Millman cancelled out Zverev’s early break with the German winning the resulting tiebreak in the opener before sailing through the second set.
But Zverev never looked comfortable in changing conditions on Court Philippe Chatrier and he was overpowered in the third, Millman taking the tie into a fourth set with a powerful forehand winner. Zverev stole his serve but Millman turned it around to force a tiebreak, which he won to take the match into a decider. That did not please Zverev, who destroyed his racket in frustration. But a timely break in the ninth game of the fifth set had him serve for the match. There were no nerves on display as Zverev ended the contest on his first match point.
Karlovic, 40, beats Lopez in oldest match: Croatia’s Ivo Karlovic became the first man in his 40s to compete in a Grand Slam singles match for 27 years when he beat fellow veteran Feliciano Lopez at Roland Garros on Tuesday. Karlovic, who turned 40 in February, won 7-6(4) 7-5 6-7(7) 7-5 against the 37-year-old Spaniard in the oldest French Open men’s match-up in terms of combined ages in the professional era. The last player to contest a Grand Slam singles match having turned 40 was American Jimmy Connors at the U.S. Open in 1992. Karlovic, well used to setting records for longevity everywhere he travels, is also the oldest man to compete at the French Open since 41-year-old Istvan Gulyas in 1973. It was a typical Karlovic match with the 2.11 metre tall Croat dominating his service games. He took the opening set on a tiebreak but did not engineer a break point on the Lopez serve until pouncing with his opponent 5-6 down in the second set. Almost inevitably the third set went to a tiebreak and when Lopez missed a routine volley at 5-5 it handed Karlovic a match point, only for him to be denied by a lucky backhand return that left him flat-footed at the net. A fifth set loomed when Lopez led 5-2 in the fourth set but Karlovic rattled off five straight games to move through.