By Shrivathsa Sridhar
LONDON, July 2 (Reuters) – French Open champion Alexander Zverev continued his bid for a second straight Grand Slam trophy as the German beat unseeded Valentin Royer 6-1 6-3 7-6(3) on Thursday to move into the Wimbledon third round.
Just weeks after ending his long wait for a maiden major at Roland Garros, Zverev barely put a foot wrong against his French opponent, taking full control of the Court One contest from the outset and overcoming some late resistance to advance.
“For 2-1/2 sets I played an almost perfect match but I lost focus and concentration,” Zverev said after his 50th tour-level match win on grass.
“He made it interesting, but I’m happy to be through in straight sets. Even though I love to play here, it’s nice to win easier in the beginning of the week.”
After Royer held serve to open the match, Zverev claimed the next nine games without reply by showcasing near-flawless tennis from both flanks, and the second seed went on to double his lead in the match with a forehand winner on set point.
An early break in the third set gave Zverev the ideal platform to close out a convincing victory, but the 29-year-old wobbled slightly with a double fault and a forehand error to let Royer claw his way back to 4-4.
Royer forced a deciding tiebreak from there but Zverev was in no mood to be dragged into an extended workout and held his nerve to book a third-round meeting with American Marcos Giron, who beat another Frenchman in Quentin Halys.
“I’m not old yet, but I’m getting to an age where you need to save energy,” Zverev added.
“It builds confidence to win easily, especially in Wimbledon. I love this tournament but I’m waiting for a big result … if I play like this it can happen this year.
“You need to have a short-term memory in tennis — good or bad — because the next tournament is around the corner. I won the French Open, I’d been waiting for a long time and it was such a relief, but here we are in Wimbledon two weeks later.”
(Reporting by Shrivathsa Sridhar in London; Editing by Alison Williams)
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