When the duel between Alexander Zverev and the Serb Laslo Djere was just 20 minutes old, it suddenly became loud on the Philippe-Chatrier court.

A downpour came down over Paris, the rain pelted the new roof of Roland Garros' largest stadium.

However, Zverev was just as unsettled by the temporary noise as he was by his opponent.

Ultimately, the German won his third match at this year's French Open with 6: 2, 7: 5, 6: 2.

Pirmin Clossé

Sports editor.

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    "I thought that was the best match on my part so far," he said afterwards at Eurosport. In the first round he had to bend a 2-0 set deficit against Cologne's Oscar Otte, in round two he had to survive at least a few critical moments in the three-set win against the Russian Roman Safiullin. This time, however, Zverev controlled his opponent at will. “I knew how he played. And I knew that I had to take the time away from him, ”he said. “If you take away his time, he'll make more mistakes. It worked."

    Zverev had made an impressive start against Djere. Two breaks right at the start, no wobbly at his own serve - after just over half an hour, the 24-year-old secured set one. In the second round he kept his nerve, even when Djere was leading 5: 2 and had three set balls a little later when the score was 5: 4. The resistance of the Serbian clay court specialist was finally broken after this race to catch up. The victory in just over two hours for Zverev is only a matter of form.

    For the fourth time he is now in the round of 16 in Paris.

    Opponent there on Sunday is the Japanese Kei Nishikori.

    Zverev will also be the clear favorite in this match.

    Thanks to his favorable draw and the end of US Open Champion Dominic Thiem, he would probably be until the semifinals.

    Only then could he meet the first player from the top 10 in the world rankings, the Greek Stefanos Tsitsipas.

    Zverev is one of the favorites in Paris this year.

    He has become more stable in recent years, both physically and mentally.

    “I'm getting older and more experienced,” he said himself after the match against Djere.

    “Of course, my goal is still to win Grand Slam tournaments.

    And for that I will have to improve further. "

    On Saturday, a German trio will also have the chance to follow Zverev into the second week of the tournament in Paris. Jan-Lennard Struff then has to deal with the Spanish top talent Carlos Alcaraz, veteran Philipp Kohlschreiber meets the Argentine Diego Schwartzman and Dominik Koepfer meets the great Roger Federer.