Coric, Zverev carry GenNext flag aloft

Paris

The 19-year-old had lost to American Jack Socks in straight sets last year. This year the Croat will face 14th seed Roberto Bautista Agut.

“I think I have very good quality of tennis at the moment, especially on the clay court, and I think it’s going to come,” Coric said. Bautista Agut has a 2-1 record in head to head against Coric, including two clay-court wins last year. By reaching the third round, the Spaniard matches his best result in French Open (2014). Another 19-year-old star to move up was Alexander Zverev who knocked out French wild card Stephane Robert 6-1, 3-6, 6-1, 6-4. “You can feel immediately that his game is where it has to be... His backhand shots are really good. There is not much effort. His tennis is well balanced... and that’s a great strength of his,” Robert said of Zverev. “It’s nice to see this. He’s going to be one of the future big names.”

Robert, 36, was playing in his sixth French Open main draw. “I felt good during the tournament, and there were things I had to work on. That›s very, very positive for me,” Robert said. Zverev will face 13th seed Dominic Thiem on Saturday. Thiem had beaten Zverev in Nice last year.