Tennis-Zverev spoils lucky loser De Jong’s birthday with straight sets victory

PARIS, May 31 (Reuters) – Second seed Alexander Zverev cruised past lucky loser Jesper De Jong 7-6(3) 6-4 6-1 on Sunday to book his spot in the French Open quarter-finals and edge closer to an elusive maiden Grand Slam title.

• The French Open is seen as the 29-year-old’s best chance to finally land the first Grand Slam trophy of his career, with many of the top contenders, including world number one Jannick Sinner and 24-timed major champion Novak Djokovic, already eliminated.

• The pair traded breaks in the first set before Zverev won the tiebreak to take control of the match.

• De Jong, ranked 106th in the world who came into the main draw as a lucky loser, was playing the biggest match of his career on his 26th birthday but there was little joy for him.

• Zverev, who has now reached the quarter-finals in Paris eight times, was too strong, firing baseline winners seemingly at will, and earning two set points on De Jong’s serve at 5-4. He needed only one to move two sets up after the Dutchman sank a volley into the net.

• The world number three then powered to a 3-0 lead in the third and wrapped up the match a little later when De Jong sent a backhand into the net.

• He will now face Spanish teenager Rafael Jodar, who made the quarter-finals in his maiden French Open.

(Reporting by Karolos Grohmann; editing by Clare Fallon)