Zverev wins second set, draws level against Alcaraz in Roland Garros final
p a href='https://www.atptour.com/en/players/alexander-zverev/z355/overview'Alexander Zverev/a has drawn level in the a href='https://www.atptour.com/en/tournaments/roland-garros/520/overview'Roland Garros/a championship match after delivering a rock-solid second-set showing against a href='https://www.atptour.com/en/players/carlos-alcaraz/a0e2/overview'Carlos Alcaraz/a. /p
p The fourth-seeded German reeled off five consecutive games to level at 3-6, 6-2 against the third-seeded Alcaraz. Competing in his second major final, the 27-year-old Zverev is aiming to become just the third man born in the 1990s to win a Grand Slam title after a href='https://www.atptour.com/en/players/dominic-thiem/tb69/overview'Dominic Thiem/a and a href='https://www.atptour.com/en/players/daniil-medvedev/mm58/overview'Daniil Medvedev/a. /p
p Alcaraz earlier clinched the opening set by locking in on return after a cagey start in which both players dropped their opening service game on Court Philippe-Chatrier. The 21-year-old is bidding to become the youngest player to capture a Grand Slam title on three different surfaces after his triumphs on hard courts at the 2022 a href='https://www.atptour.com/en/tournaments/us-open/560/overview'US Open/a and grass at 2023 a href='https://www.atptour.com/en/tournaments/wimbledon/540/overview'Wimbledon/a. /p
p/p
p Zverev began his second major final by serving back-to-back double faults, after which the German immediately changed his racquet. He was nonetheless broken three times in the opening set, and also had to fend off two break points to hold in another of his service games at 2-4. /p
p Although not always at his best, Alcaraz deployed good variety to disrupt Zverev’s rhythm, and he was eager to channel the support of a capacity crowd after prevailing in any extended rallies. /p
p Despite dropping the opening set, Zverev kept his focus, and an improved serving performance helped him halt Alcaraz's charge on return. The German landed 83 per cent (20/24) of his first serves in the second set, and won 80 per cent (16/20) of those points, according to Infosys Stats. Although he let slip three break points in the first game of the second set, he made no mistake in the fifth or seventh games to haul himself back into the match. /p
blockquote class="twitter-tweet"p lang="en" dir="ltr"Sascha takes the second set ????brbrWe go into a third with all to play for… where do you think this match is going? ????a href="https://twitter.com/rolandgarros?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw"@rolandgarros/a | a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/RolandGarros?src=hashamp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw"#RolandGarros/a a href="https://t.co/zyREg8A9uV"pic.twitter.com/zyREg8A9uV/a/pmdash; ATP Tour (@atptour) a href="https://twitter.com/atptour/status/1799816172696989727?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw"June 9, 2024/a/blockquote script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"/script
p Zverev's ability to stay the course physically will be an intriguing aspect of the final as it progresses: The No. 4 in the PIF ATP Rankings spent 19 hours and 27 minutes on court en route to Sunday’s clash, the longest road to a a href='https://www.atptour.com/en/tournaments/roland-garros/520/overview'Roland Garros/a final since the start of recorded match times in 1991. /p
p Both players are competing in their maiden championship match at a href='https://www.atptour.com/en/tournaments/roland-garros/520/overview'Roland Garros/a. Whoever prevails, there will be a first-time champion on the Paris clay for the first time since a href='https://www.atptour.com/en/players/novak-djokovic/d643/overview'Novak Djokovic/a’s 2016 title run. /p
p [NEWSLETTER FORM] /p