After Zverev eliminated 19-year-old Learner Tien in straight sets to start his French Open campaign, 88th-ranked Jesper de Jong would be the German's next opponent after his comeback from 2-0 down against Francesco Passaro.
The Dutchman opened strong and broke Zverev en route to a quick 3-0 lead. De Jong remained flawless in the first set, outsmarting Zverev in net play and taking a surprising 1-0 lead in sets after 45 minutes.
The lost set seemed to have woken Zverev up. The German ace broke De Jong quickly in the second set and raced to a 6-1 set win. Zverev became almost invincible on his serve, conceding on just 14 of 51 service points in the second and third sets, the latter of which he won 6-2.
24-year-old De Jong showed his fighting spirit in the fourth set as Zverev struggled on first service points. With Zverev up 4-0, De Jong fought to retain his third service game, broke the three-time Grand Slam finalist to get back to 4-2, and then reduced the deficit again with a love game.
A battle-hardened Zverev fought back again and, after getting gifted three match points thanks to a double fault from De Jong, finished the job after a failed slice from the Dutchman, who saw his French Open campaign end after a near three-hour match in the second round.
With his win, Zverev set up a meeting with the winner of the Italian matchup between Flavio Cobolli and Matteo Arnaldi.
View all the match statistics on Flashscore.
