Zverev vs Sinner French Open tennis preview, head-to-head and predictions

Alexander Zverev must beat talented Italian teenager Jannik Sinner if he is to reach a third straight French Open quarterfinal.

Zverev vs Sinner is live from Roland Garros on Sunday 4 October, 1pm local/12pm BST

US Open finalist Alexander Zverev survived a five-set battle in the second round and is now within touching distance of his third appearance in the French Open quarterfinals – and a possible clash with Rafael Nadal.

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But before he can start thinking about facing the 12-time champion, Zverev has to find a way past Jannik Sinner, the 19-year-old Italian looking for the third top-10 win of his career.

Read on for our preview, predictions and live streaming information.

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Zverev vs Sinner: Head-to-head

This will be the first meeting between Alexander Zverev and Jannik Sinner.

Zverev vs Sinner: Preview

Alexander Zverev’s second-round match at the French Open was reminiscent of many we’ve seen him play before: Puzzlingly passive, a bit error-strewn, seemingly reluctant to impose himself on the match and letting a lower-ranked opponent drag him the distance, in this case Pierre-Hugues Herbert, before outlasting them for the win.

Zverev redeemed himself, however, with a straight-sets victory in the third round over former semifinalist Marco Cecchinato – a potentially dangerous opponent – keeping focus throughout the match to record a 6-1, 7-5, 6-3 win. That’s more like the Zverev we saw at the Australian Open (where he also beat Cecchinato, incidentally) who record straight-sets wins over the likes of Andrey Rublev and Fernando Verdasco to make the semifinals.

This is already the best year Zverev has had at Grand Slam level, with his Australian Open semifinal run and his runner-up finish at the US Open, and the German hasn’t seemed to be too affected by the memory of having served for the title in New York before losing to Dominic Thiem in a fifth-set tie-break. Against Cecchinato, he served ten aces and only five double faults (good by his standards), lost just seven points on first serve and saved one of the two break points he faced; that’s a good serving performance which, if he repeats, will make life very difficult for Jannik Sinner.

Jannik Sinner (Credit Image: © Benoit Doppagne/Belga via ZUMA Press)

Sinner is looking for the third top-10 victory of his young career after beating David Goffin in Rotterdam in February and Stefanos Tsitsipas in Rome recently. The Next Gen ATP Finals champion repeated his Rotterdam victory over Goffin – now ranked world no. 13 – in the first round 7-5, 6-0, 6-3 and still hasn’t dropped a set in wins over Benjamin Bonzi and Federico Coria to make the fourth round of his very first French Open.

The young Italian is fearless, and his game is impressive: Plenty of power which could quite easily rock Zverev back on his heels, if he lets it. But he also struggled physically in his first-round match against Karen Khachanov at the US Open, which saw him lose in a fifth-set tie-break after leading by two sets to love. The temptation will be there for Zverev to try to outlast him, but that would just be asking for trouble: He needs to impose himself on Sinner. That starts with good serving, and it’s within Zverev’s capacities. The German should win in four at the most.

Zverev vs Sinner: Prediction