German clocks 45 winners

He hit 19 aces in victory, part of his total of 45 winners, to just 17 unforced errors and saved the only break point he faced, which came in the eighth game of the first set.

But Zverev's on-song game wasn't the only thing that troubled the Czech 25-year-old in the match. With the German ahead 6-4, 4-1, Machac received a medical timeout on his lower body, and appeared in a hampered physical state from then on. 

Pleased with his play, Zverev nonetheless said Machac's apparent injury took some shine away from what he thought, to that point, was an "amazing" match from both sides.

"I thought we both played really, really good. Tomas played really, really good, and unfortunately the injury stopped the match flow a little bit," he said. 

"I'm happy to finish it in three sets," he continued. "As a player, it's always difficult when an opponent is injured. You still have a job to do, you still have to win the match, but I hope for Tomas that it is not too serious."

550 and counting

Zverev's 10 third-round appearances in Paris is fourth-most among active players, and with the impending retirements of Gael Monfils and Stan Wawrinka at the end of this season, he will soon rank second behind Djokovic. The win also gives him 40 match wins at Roland-Garros all-time, which ranks jointly with Monfils for third among active players behind Djokovic and Wawrinka.

The win was notable for Zverev outside the confines of Roland-Garros as well. It was his 550th tour-level victory, which is fifth-most among players currently competing on the ATP tour. He is the first man born since 1990 to achieve the feat, as well as the third German man in the Open Era to reach the milestone after Boris Becker (713) and Tommy Haas (569).

Zverev admits that he has "won on every stage, except this stage", and while staying true to his game has brought him such successes, the three-time Grand Slam finalist says that if he wants to capture a long-awaited Grand Slam title in Paris in 2026, which may include toppling Jannik Sinner for the first time in three years, he has to "do something different".

"Something has stopped me at this stage from winning," he said. "At the end of last year, we sat down with my team and said... we have to try more things, we have to try to be more aggressive, we have to try to hit the ball harder, come in a bit more, a bit more variety as well.

"So far, it's working. I'm happy to be through, and we'll see how the next 10 days go."