For the third time this season, Alexander Zverev found a way past Alexander Blockx, beating him in four sets to reach the second round of Wimbledon.

Blockx pushed Zverev all the way, but in the end, the French Open champion came out on top in a 6-4 6-7 (8-10) 7-6 (7-5) 7-6 (7-0) victory in just under three hours.

It was a tight match throughout, but Zverev found an edge in the ninth game of the first set, with a three-game winning streak getting him over the line.

Neither player could find an opening in the second set, though, going all the way to a tie-break. Zverev squandered a set point but then held off two before Blockx drew level with his third.

The third followed a similar pattern, but Zverev had to fend off three break points in the first game before being taken to another breaker. The German reeled off four straight points to take a 6-3 lead but took three set points to take the set.

And Blockx took him all the way again in the fourth as the Belgian quickly pulled back level when Zverev went a break up.

However, Zverev turned up the heat in the final tie-break, winning seven straight points to get through the first round and set up a meeting with Valentin Royer.

Zverev stays perfect against Blockx

Zverev has also beaten Blocks – a Wimbledon debutant – at the ATP Masters 1000 events in both Madrid and Rome this year, and extended his head-to-head record to 3-0, staying perfect as he begins his bid for a second straight major title.

Before he can look that far ahead, he will just be aiming to make it to the final eight; this is his 10th main draw appearance at Wimbledon, but it is the grand slam event where he has not reached the quarter-finals.

Zverev is currently equal with Jannik Sinner for major match wins since the start of the decade (both 94), with only Novak Djokovic (124) claiming more in men's singles matches.

Both players were incredibly strong on serve, with Zverev (21) and Blockx (16) firing down a combined 37 aces, with just three breaks of serve across the four sets.