PARIS : German third seed Alexander Zverev produced a clinical performance to kick off his French Open campaign with a 6-2 6-4 6-4 win against Austrian qualifier Sebastian Ofner on Sunday.
The 25-year-old Zverev, who reached the semi-finals last year at Roland Garros, came to Paris with strong clay-court form behind him, having reached the final in Madrid and making semi-final runs at Monte-Carlo and Rome. On a balmy evening he dominated proceedings from the start on Court Suzanne Lenglen against his opponent, ranked 218th in the world.
Zverev did not face a single breakpoint on his own serve while breaking Ofner twice in the opening set and once in each of the next two, and he closed out the contest in an hour and 49 minutes with his 13th ace. He will next face the winner of the match between Serbian Dusan Lajovic and Sebastian Baez of Argentina.