Dominic Thiem reached the fourth round of a Grand Slam championship for the second time on Saturday as he battled from a set down to beat #NextGen star Alexander Zverev 6-7(4), 6-3, 6-3, 6-3 at Roland Garros.

The 22-year-old Thiem is the first Austrian to reach the last 16 in Paris since Jurgen Melzer was a semi-finalist in 2010. For a place in the quarter-finals, the Lichtenworth native will face Marcel Granollers, who received a walkover when nine-time champion Rafael Nadal was forced to withdraw due to a wrist injury.

Thiem reached his first Grand Slam fourth round two years ago at the US Open, falling to Tomas Berdych.

After a career-best start to the season, Thiem is sixth in the early standings for the Emirates ATP Race To London, which determines the Top 8 at the year-end Barclays ATP World Tour Finals. The right-hander has won three ATP World Tour titles, in Buenos Aires (d. Almagro), Acapulco (d. Tomic) and seven days ago in Nice, where he defeated Zverev.

Saturday’s clash marked Thiem’s third meeting with Zverev in the space of a few weeks. In addition to victory in the Nice final, Thiem had also beaten the 19-year-old German in the Munich semi-finals, going on to finish runner-up to Philipp Kohlschreiber in the final.

The 13^th-seeded Thiem was made to rue six missed break point opportunities in the 11^th game of the first set as Zverev went on to snatch the opener in a tie-break. But Thiem struck back in the second set, relinquishing an early break advantage before securing a 5-2 lead and taking the second set.

Thiem saved three break points to fend off Zverev’s advances in the second game of the third set before an injection of pace on his forehand helped him break the 6’6’’ German in the following game. Thiem saved break back points in the sixth and eighth games before breaking Zverev again to love in the ninth game to take the lead in the contest.

The Austrian made the decisive breakthrough in the fourth game of the fourth set, securing a 3-1 lead. He thwarted Zverev on a break back chance in the seventh game and went on to seal victory in the ninth game.

Thiem recorded an ATP-best 23^rd clay-court win of the season and improved to a 39-10 record overall in 2016. 

Third seed Stan Wawrinka, the defending Roland Garros champion, provided an interesting perspective on the mental side of the game after his win over Jeremy Chardy on Friday to set up a fourth-round encounter with Viktor Troicki.

“When I’m playing against Troicki or a player like today, it’s all up to me. A few years back it wasn’t just up to me,” said Wawrinka, who added that the difference between contenders and the rest of the field can be fleeting.

“The margin [between top players and the rest of the field] isn’t that huge. Between playing a five-set match and a three-setter that’s easier, sometimes there’s not that much of a difference, unlike what the score would seem to indicate,” said Wawrinka, who saw off Lukas Rosol in five sets in his opening match in Paris. “Rosol was playing really well. My legs were not so good. It perhaps wasn’t my best tennis. But in the end, I had to fight for these five sets. He played well.”

While Wawrinka can count himself among the men to beat at the second Grand Slam of the year, it wasn’t always so. He failed to clear the fourth round in his first eight trips to Roland Garros, then lost in the first round of the 2014 edition before going all the way last year.

“What makes a difference between me a few years back and me now, is that everything is much stronger,” Wawrinka said. “My level of play is much stronger. Physically things are much stronger. I’m much more confident.

“I have defeated all these guys over the past few years. So I can play anyone. If I just come along and I move physically and I feel the ball, I have the match under my control. Then of course I need to win it. But it’s already great to be able to think like that.”

The Swiss will hope to count on that sense of serenity as he sails into the second week. If the seeds hold, he will face Milos Raonic in the quarter-finals and Andy Murray in the semi-finals.

“When there are days when I’m not playing too well, I know that there is always a way out. It makes a huge difference when you’re not playing your best tennis but you can still win a five-set match in a Grand Slam tournament.

“Maybe the top-seeded players have this in common. There are days when we accept the play isn’t going to be as nice as usual. I’ve lost five-set matches in my life, too. There is no guarantee.

“But maybe we are a little bit calmer than the others.”

Bob Bryan and Mike Bryan overcame a second-set challenge from Oliver Marach and Fabrice Martin to win 6-3, 7-6(1) in the second round of Roland Garros on Friday. The fifth seeds dropped serve to trail 4-2 in the second set, but broke back the following game before sweeping the last seven points of the tie-break. Last year’s finalists are looking for their third Roland Garros title.

Second seeds Jean-Julien Rojer and Horia Tecau also raced to an early lead but were unable to close out their second-round match, losing 5-7, 6-4, 6-3 to 2008 champion Pablo Cuevas and 2014 finalist Marcel Granollers. Cuevas/Granollers fired nine aces and broke serve four times to advance.

Defending champions Ivan Dodig and Marcelo Melo eased into the third round with a 6-2, 6-4 win over Frenchmen Tristan Lamasine and Albano Olivetti. Dodig/Melo did not face a break point in the 75-minute encounter.

Three-time champion Leander Paes teamed up with Marcin Matkowski to see off Julian Knowle and Florian Mayer 6-4, 6-3. The 42 year old is looking to win Roland Garros for the fourth time (1999, 2001 & 2009).

The most one-sided win of the day belonged to Spaniards Feliciano Lopez and Marc Lopez. They dismissed Argentines Federico Delbonis and Andres Molteni 6-1, 6-2 in just 62 minutes. 

Defending Roland Garros champion Stan Wawrinka is finding his best form as he bids for another title in Paris. The No. 3 seed convincingly moved past No. 30 seed Jeremy Chardy in their third-round match on Friday, 6-4, 6-3, 7-5.

With the win, Wawrinka increased his winning streak on clay to seven matches. He prevailed in last week’s ATP World Tour event in Geneva.

“Everything that I did today was pretty high-level,” said Wawrinka. “I hit the ball well. I was moving around well. I managed to do what I wanted.”

Wawrinka dropped serve to start the match, but it was one of the few lapses in form he had all afternoon. The Swiss star immediately broke back in the next game and clinched the set with another break of serve at 5-4.

In the second set, the defending champion took his game to another level. Hitting 14 winners to seven errors, he earned an early break of serve to lead 3-1 and eventually fired an ace on set point to take a commanding two-sets lead.

Wawrinka once again grabbed an early break to lead 3-1 in the third set. It appeared the match would be wrapped up with Wawrinka serving at 5-4, but the Frenchman brought the crowd to their feet with inspired returning to level the match. The No. 3 seed responded by breaking Chardy in the next game and comfortably serving out the match on his second try.

Wawrinka will next play No. 22 seed Viktor Troicki of Serbia, who enjoyed a convincing win over No. 16 seed Gilles Simon of France, 6-4, 6-2, 6-2. Wawrinka leads his FedEx ATP Head2Head with Troicki 4-0.

“The last time I played him on clay was a three-hour match in Belgrade [in 2010],” said Wawrinka. “He’s a player who plays well. He plays his own [style] of tennis.” 

No. 9 seed Richard Gasquet delighted the home crowd by winning his third-round match on Friday, advancing past No. 17 seed Nick Kyrgios, 6-2, 7-6(7), 6-2.

After falling behind 0/40 in the opening game of the match, Gasquet went on a tear by winning 13 of the next 15 points. Kyrgios struggled to find his footing in the first set, hitting eight winners to 14 errors. The Australian dropped serve down 2-5 to give the opening set to his opponent.

In the second-set tie-break, Kyrgios produced an error on set point at 6/5. Gasquet narrowly missed a backhand passing shot on his first set point at 7/6, but made good two points later and took a commanding two-set lead.

Gasquet grabbed an early break to start the third set, hitting a forehand winner to take a 2-1 lead. Continuing to frustrate the Australian with his variety, he earned another break to lead 5-2 and wrapped up the match on serve in the next game.

The Frenchman moves into the second week at Roland Garros for the fourth time. He’ll look to reach his first quarter-final in Paris when he next plays No. 5 seed Kei Nishikori. Gasquet leads their FedEx ATP Head2Head rivalry 6-2, but Nishikori has won their past two meetings this year on the clay of ATP World Tour Masters 1000 events in Madrid and Rome. 

Rafael Nadal, a nine-time Roland Garros champion, has withdrawn from the tournament due to a left wrist injury. He was slated to meet countryman Marcel Granollers in the third round.

“I have to retire from the tournament because of problem in my wrist that I have had for a couple of weeks,” Nadal said during a press conference on Friday. “Yesterday I played with an injection in my wrist. Last night I started to feel more and more pain. I did an MRI and an echography and the results were not positive. It’s not broken, but if I keep playing, something will break in the next couple of days. Every day the image has gotten a bit worse.

“I came here to win the tournament, and that means playing five more matches. According to the doctor, that would be impossible, as there is a 100 per cent chance something will break,” Nadal added. “I know that I cannot finish the tournament. It’s part of life and I hope to be back at Roland Garros for many years to come.”

Nadal conceded a walkover for just the third time in his career. He withdrew ahead of the 2004 Estoril quarter-finals and the 2012 Miami semi-finals. According to the Spaniard, he will not need immediate surgery.

“For the moment, I need a couple of weeks of immobilisation. Then we’re going to do the treatment, and we’ll hope that the treatment works well. But now is not the moment to talk about that. It’s just about taking it day by day, to work hard.

“I hope to have a fast recovery.”