Roland-Garros: No late-night drama for Zverev as straight sets win over Molcan sends German into third round

Alexander Zverev defeated Alex Molcan 6-4, 6-2, 6-1 and will face American Frances Tiafoe, the No 12 seed, in the next round

Zverev through to third round at Roland-Garros 2023 © Chryslene Caillaud / Panoramic

Jamie Malachy

June 1, 2023

French Open 2023 Men's Singles •Second round • completed

See draw

A. ZverevvsA. Molcan

Alexander Zverev ensured there was no repeat of Tuesday night’s dramatic evening session, as he recorded an impressive straight sets win over Slovak Alex Molcan 6-4, 6-2, 6-1 to advance to the third round of Roland-Garros.

It sets up an intriguing third round encounter for Zverev, who will play American Frances Tiafoe, the No 12 seed, next.

It was a professional and business-like performance from the German, who looked in total control throughout the one-sided contest.

In a match just a couple of minutes shy of two hours, Zverev hit a brilliant 42 winners to just 28 unforced errors. In comparison, Molcan – completely suffocated by the quality coming at him from across the net – could only muster 12 winners.

The former world No. 2 looks to be reaching somewhere close to his very best tennis again, after a severe ankle injury on the very same court at Roland-Garros last year kept him out of action for six months.

Zverev completed the match unbroken, having saved eight break points as the door to his service games remained firmly shut.

With Jannik Sinner, Auger-Aliassime and Medvedev all falling early, this performance sends out a strong statement of intent to the rest of the field – Alexander Zverev is back, and he is a contender.

Paris (Grand Slam), other second-round results (Stade Roland-Garros, clay, EUR 49.600.000, most recent results first):

Arthur Rinderknech vs. Taylor Fritz: thursday
Holger Rune vs. Gael Monfils
Francisco Cerundolo (23) beat Yannick Hanfmann (LL): 6-3, 6-3, 6-4
Marcos Giron beat Jiri Lehecka: 6-2, 6-3, 6-2
Nicolas Jarry beat Tommy Paul (16): 3-6, 6-1, 6-4, 7-5
Genaro Alberto Olivieri (Q) beat Andrea Vavassori (Q): 7-6 (7), 3-6, 6-4, 7-6 (3)
Frances Tiafoe beat Aslan Karatsev (Q): 3-6, 6-3, 7-5, 6-2
Zhizhen Zhang beat Thiago Agustin Tirante: 7-6 (3), 6-3, 6-4
Thiago Seyboth Wild (Q) beat Guido Pella: 6-3, 3-6, 6-4, 6-3
Grigor Dimitrov (28) beat Emil Ruusuvuori: 7-6 (4), 6-3, 6-4
Yoshihito Nishioka (27) beat Max Purcell: 4-6, 6-2, 7-5, 6-4
Daniel Altmaier beat Jannik Sinner (8): 6-7, 7-6 (7), 1-6, 7-6 (4), 7-5
Casper Ruud (4) beat Giulio Zeppieri (Q): 6-3, 6-2, 4-6, 7-5
Tomas Martin Etcheverry beat Alex De Minaur (18): 6-3, 7-6 (2), 6-3
Borna Coric (15) beat Pedro Cachin: 6-3, 4-6, 4-6, 6-3, 6-4