(Tennis news) At the 2023 French Open, a matchup between top-30 players Alexander Zverev and Grigor Dimitrov is scheduled for the fourth round.Zverev defeated Lloyd Harris and Alex Molcan in the first two rounds after which he squared up against World No. 12 Frances Tiafoe. 

In the third round of the French Open, Alexander Zverev got off to a good start, but Tiafoe won the first set by sweeping the final four games. More points were exchanged in the second set, which Zverev eventually won in a tie-break. In the third set, he completely destroyed Tiafoe, losing just one game along the way. The German prevailed in the subsequent tie-break to win the match 3-6, 7-6 (3), 6-1, and 7-6 (5) as the two players battled it out throughout the fourth set.

Dimitrov eliminated Emil Ruusuvuori and Timothy Skatov in the first and second rounds of the French Open to get to the third round, where he faced Daniel Altmaier. The opening set was 4-1 in favour of the Bulgarian, but his opponent rallied to tie the match. In order to win the set, Dimitrov broke the German’s serve in the tenth game. At the beginning of the second set, he obtained a break of serve, and he held onto the advantage until the set’s conclusion to win it. The Bulgarian handed out a breadstick to win the match 6-4, 6-3, 6-1 in the third set, which was even more one-sided.

Head-to-Head

The head-to-head matchup favours Zverev 3-1 over Dimitrov. Zverev defeated Dimitrov in three sets in their latest encounter at the Paris Masters in 2021.

Predictions

To get to this point, Dimitrov hasn’t dropped a set and has been in excellent form all week. In the previous round, he had 30 wins and 23 unforced errors while winning 75% of the points off his first serve. At the French Open the year before, Zverev horribly injured his ankle. After progressively gaining momentum, he now appears to be on pace for another long run in Paris one year after the injury.

Although Zverev’s score of 13 aces was matched by the 10 double faults he committed, his serve performed admirably in the previous round. The number of unforced errors he made was marginally more than the number of victories he produced. Dimitrov will throw a test on the German’s conservative style of tennis. The fact that Zverev has a winning record against the Bulgarian will give him confidence in his chances. Although the latter is an adept shotmaker, he hasn’t been able to break through the defences of his younger opponent. The German is expected to keep winning at the French Open.

Zverev to win in 4 sets (3-1) 

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