Second seed Alexander Zverev brushed aside French wildcard Benjamin Bonzi 6-3, 6-4, 6-2 on a sun-soaked Court Philippe-Chatrier today to open his Roland Garros campaign, growing into the match across two hours and eight minutes to set up a second-round meeting with Czech Tomas Machac.
The 2024 finalist arrived in Paris widely viewed as the most credible obstacle to Jannik Sinner’s run at a first Roland Garros title in the absence of reigning champion Carlos Alcaraz, and the world No.3 carried himself like a man who knows it. After a tidy opening set built around steady depth from the baseline, Zverev tightened his grip as the contest wore on, leaning increasingly on a drop shot that Bonzi never quite solved.
The match. Zverev took the first set 6-3 without ever looking troubled, his serve doing the heavy lifting and Bonzi struggling to extend rallies long enough to draw the German out wide. The second set offered the Frenchman his clearest opening of the afternoon. Bonzi broke back on his first opportunity of the match to level at 4-4 and briefly lifted the home crowd, only to be broken immediately in reply. Zverev closed the set 6-4 with a drop shot — the same weapon he then used to break at the start of the third.
A missed overhead from Bonzi at 0-2, 15-all in the decider summed up the Frenchman’s afternoon. Zverev raised his voice after one of a string of winners and pushed out to 4-0, briefly threatening a bagel before letting the break slip. Bonzi saved one match point but could do no more, and Zverev served out the win to love.
What it means. With Alcaraz absent through a right wrist injury and the men’s draw thinning at the top, Zverev’s status as the most likely opponent for Sinner in the final has hardened with every passing week. The German has made no secret of how much a maiden Grand Slam title would mean, and a routine opening-round win is the kind of result he has not always managed at majors — he was a first-round casualty in Paris as a 20-year-old in 2017 and has had to grind through five-setters in opening rounds in years since.
Up next. Machac, the world No.21 Czech, awaits in the second round on Tuesday. The pair have history at tour level, and Machac on his day has the firepower to test the bigger names. But Zverev’s path through the first week, on paper, looks as clean as any of the top seeds.
For Bonzi, a 29-year-old who has carried the French men’s flag through Fils’ withdrawal, it was a credible effort against a player operating in a higher tier. The home support gave him his moment in the second set. He was unable to build on it.
