French Open: Day 6 – Zverev, Thiem, Monfils to reach the round of 16

Dominic Thiem can serve en suite for the third time on Friday. Also at the start: Alexander Zverev and Gael Monfils.

By Jens Huiber from Paris

Thiem-Zverev-Watch: Alexander Zverev has had another day in the Molitor. This is the first address for players at the French Open, less than five minutes walk from Stade Roland Garros. The roof terrace should be the very best, but only accessible to selected friends of the house during the tournament. Of course, the number three in the tennis world is one of them.

Zverev has passed the first endurance test, Dusan Lajovic has tortured the native of Hamburg for three sentences. And then melted away in Paris early summer. The next opponent for Zverev is Damir Dzumhur (11:00, Court Philippe Chatrier, in our LIVE-TICKER). The only encounter between the two dates from autumn 2017, when Dzumhur hit every ball in the sweet spot, not necessarily on Friday in Paris.

Dominic Thiem has no experience with Matteo Berrettini (3rd match after 11:00 am, Court1, in our LIVE-TICKER). Coach Günter Bresnik would have looked closely at his protégé’s next opponent against Ernests Gulbis – and returned with the realization that the Italian was a man of good talent.

Perhaps also with good manners. Thiem missed them at his quarter-final against Stefanos Tsitsipas in Barcelona, but he still didn’t say goodbye to the Greeks at the French Open.

Match of the day: David Goffin (BEL/8) vs. Gael Monfils (FRA/32). Goffin lost the first two sets of the tournament (against Robin Haase), and none afterwards (against Robin Haase and Corentin Moutet). Monfils convinced against Martin Klizan, but was once again close to twisting his knee so that the next longer break is imminent. In Head-to-Head it actually stands for 2.1 for the Frenchman, if you like, the non-appearance of Monfils at the US Open 2017 can be seen as Goffin’s second victory. The match will be played on Suzanne Lenglen, the third match after 11:00 am.

Upset alert of the day (balance: three correct, two wrong tips): Petra Kvitova (CZE/8) vs. Anett Kontaveit (EST/25) after Monfils/Goffin. Kontaveit trained with Julia Görges before the tournament started. That alone should be enough for the upset. Kvitova, on the other hand, can only remember her last defeat in the dark: Angelique Kerber was so free in Stuttgart. On the other hand: Paris has not yet developed a real love relationship with Kvitova. And in the first round, the Czech player was on the brink of collapse against Veronica Cepede Royg.

Utensil of the previous day: Whether the pedometer on the wrist actually shows exactly the movements of the day, we leave that out for a moment. However, on a day on which the journalist is charmingly imposed on him by a sweet ice cream supplier a taste whose calorie content must lie beyond every three-digit calorie mark, in such moments a multiple of this calorie number is worth in steps of gold.

Here are the most important matches of Friday