Alexander Zverev battles past Bernabe Zapata Miralles in straight sets win to reach French Open quarter finals

Alexander Zverev battled past Bernabe Zapata Miralles 7-6(13-11) 7-5 6-3 to reach the quarter-finals of the French Open.

Zverev and Zapata Miralles swapped four early break points as there was little to separate the pair in the first set until the tie-break.

Zverev had beaten Brandon Nakashima in the third round to reach Sunday’s match-up, while Zapata Miralles had slogged through five sets on Friday to overcome American contender John Isner.

Zverev pushed his way to a set point but the Spanish qualifier clung on and then forced his own chance before double-faulting, and he fought hard with the German for the first set until he sent one shot too long to go 13-11 down.

Zapata Miralles broke in the first game of the second set and had Zverev 4-2 down in the second set only for the German to show his quality and take three games on the bounce to go 5-4 ahead, but Zapata Miralles levelled at 5-5, but suffered a heavy fall as Zverev served to go 6-5 up after holding off two break points, before asserting his authority by breaking his rival.

Two hours gone, and Zapata Miralles had nothing to show for it, and perhaps it was no surprise that he then took some time off the court between sets.

The Spaniard, who was in his seventh match after coming through qualifying at Roland-Garros, appeared to tire in the second set as he then went down 7-5.

Germany’s Zverev broke early and moved into a 3-1 lead as his opponent cut a much more pessimistic figure, only for Zapata Miralles to pull off a break of his own.

However the world No. 3 appeared the fitter of the two and he broke back to 5-3 before serving for the match.

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