French Open: Alexander Zverev cruises into round two

Last year's runner-up Alexander Zverev cantered into the second round of the French Open with a dominant 6-3 6-3 6-4 victory over American Learner Tien on Tuesday.

The German third seed, still chasing an elusive maiden Grand Slam title, broke once in each set to advance comfortably and set up a meeting with Jesper De Jong of the Netherlands or Italian Francesco Passaro.

"It was a good start to the tournament," said Zverev.

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."

The fact that Tien, the world 67, had already beaten him, helped Zverev keep his feet on the ground throughout on court Suzanne Lenglen.

"He beat a lot of great opponents - (Daniil) Medvedev at the Australian Open and me in Acapulco," Zverev recalled.

"He is going climb up the rankings. Today it helped that I played him once before, maybe it helped that I lost also to him. I am happy with the performance all around."