Before each day's play begins in Paris, we'll preview three must-see matches that you'll find on Tennis Channel Plus. Tennis Channel Plus features up to 10 courts of live action from Roland Garros beginning Sunday, May 27 at 5:00am ET. Catch up and watch all your favorite stars anytime, on-demand, with Tennis Channel Plus.
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For anyone trying to decide whether Zverev has had an impressive, or exceedingly fortunate, run to his first Grand Slam quarterfinal, this will be the litmus test. Thiem and Zverev are both potential finalists here, and will be for years to come. Outside of Rafael Nadal, they also had the best clay-court seasons on the men’s side; Zverev won in Munich and Madrid, while Thiem won in Lyon and handed Nadal his only loss of the spring.
As far as their head-to-head record goes, Thiem leads 4-2, and he beat Zverev in the third round here two years ago; but Zverev dominated their most recent meeting, in the Madrid final last month. Thiem, oddly, tried to play that match from far back in the court, and Zverev made the most of his court-position advantage. It’s hard to imagine that Thiem will repeat that mistake here, when the stakes are even higher. Winner: Thiem
WATCH—Match point from Zverev's win over Karen Khachanov last round: