French Open: Zverev cruises through as Norrie shocks Medvedev in thriller

Zverev, who is still chasing his first grand slam title after losing the 2024 Paris showpiece to Carlos Alcaraz, triumphed 6-3 6-3 6-4 against an opponent who previously earned a headline victory over him at the Mexican Open in February.

The German served brilliantly, only giving up four break points – all of which were saved – and winning 90% of first-serve points during the near-two-hour encounter.

Back-to-back breaks got Zverev's nose in front after the first set went on serve for the opening six games, and he waited for his opportunity in the next two sets, too.

He broke in Tien's final service game in sets two and three, teeing up a round-two meeting with either Jesper De Jong or Francesco Passaro.

"It was a good start to the tournament," Zverev said afterwards. "I'm happy with the three-set win, usually it's more four or five sets in first matches. Hopefully it will continue like this and it will be a fun two weeks here."

Convincing win from last year's finalist #RolandGarros pic.twitter.com/vBWYhQpB4Z

— Roland-Garros (@rolandgarros) May 27, 2025

But there was no such luck for 11th seed Medvedev, who lost a three-hour, 52-minute epic to Norrie by a 7-5 6-3 4-6 1-6 7-5 scoreline.

Norrie, who had lost all four of his previous meetings with Medvedev, overcame an early loss of serve in the opener to storm to the first two sets.

Medvedev was seen ranting at his box at two sets down, but the momentum seemed to be with him when he fought back to force a decider, winning the fourth set in a rapid 24 minutes.

The Russian broke early in the fifth set but Norrie refused to go away, clinching back-to-back breaks to take the win, with a long Medvedev forehand on match point sealing the deal.

"There wasn't a lot on my mind on match point," Norrie, who will face Argentine lucky loser Federico Gomez next, said. "I felt that he was a little tentative but honestly, it was a crazy match.

"I think I deserve a diploma for beating Medvedev because he's beaten me the last four times. It was an unreal match."

Elsewhere, ninth seed Alex de Minaur beat Laslo Djere 6-3 6-4 7-6 (8-6) to tee up a second-round meeting with Alexander Bublik.

10 - Alex de Minaur has claimed his 10th ATP-level match win on clay in 2025, equalling his career-high for wins on the surface in a calendar year after last season. Focus.#RolandGarros | @rolandgarros @atptour @ATPMediaInfo pic.twitter.com/5nNXGHO4iP

— OptaAce (@OptaAce) May 27, 2025

Norrie's victory over Medvedev was his first over a former grand slam champion at one of the four majors, having previously lost four such matches.

Each of those previous defeats came against members of tennis' 'Big Three' – Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic.

Medvedev, meanwhile, continues to struggle on his least favourite surface. He holds a 52.6% win ratio on the clay at Roland-Garros.