The former Roland Garros finalist appears to have found his rhythm in the last two weeks, winning an ATP 500 title in Munich, but nonetheless struggled mightily from the beginning against Davidovich Fokina, a former world No. 21 coming off a semifinal finish in Monte Carlo two weeks ago.
Davidovich Fokina rolled through the opening set and began the second set with a break, but a poor serve game put the match back on serve. Zverev let out his frustrations late in the second set when he repeatedly begged umpire Mohamed Lahyani to physically check a line call, as has been tradition on clay court tournaments. But Lahyani was unable to overrule an electronic line call, and issued Zverev a code violation for unsportsmanlike conduct when the German retrieved his cell phone to take a picture of the mark.
Despite the meltdown, Zverev cruised through the ensuing tiebreaker are looked poised for a decisive victory when he served for the match late in the third set. Davidovich Fokina capitalized on nerves from Zverev by reeling off the next two games, but lost his own nerve in the Sudden Death, losing all seven points to put Zverev over the finish line.
Zverev will next face one of two Argentines, either No. 20 seed Francisco Cerúndoloor Francisco Comesaña.
