Alexander Zverev will take on Flavio Cobolli in Sunday’s French Open final after a day of drama in the men’s semi-finals.
Zverev, the world No3, reached a fourth Grand Slam final of his career with a four-set victory over rising star Jakub Mensik, who had dumped out fan favourite Brazilian Joao Fonseca in the last eight with a dominant straight-sets win.
The match ended 7-5 6-2 3-6 6-3, with Zverev surviving a third-set scare to get the job done and book his place in Sunday’s showpiece.
Zverev is now the odds-on favourite to claim a maiden major title at Roland-Garros, with the 29-year-old a beaten finalist in this competition from two years ago, when he was defeated by Carlos Alcaraz.
The German is seeded second in Paris this year as a result of Alcaraz, the defending champion, withdrawing from the tournament with a wrist injury, which has also ruled the Spaniard out this summer’s Wimbledon.
Zverev’s path to the Coupe des Mousquetaires has been made that much easier with the premature exits of first and third seeds Jannik Sinner and Novak Djokovic, with Sinner, last year’s runner-up, struggling with the heat as he was stunned by Juan Manuel Cerundolo in the second round.
Djokovic cast doubts over whether he would play on the Parisian dirt again after he was beaten by Fonseca in a five-set thriller on Court Philippe-Chatrier.
If Zverev claims victory against Cobolli this weekend, he would become the seventh-oldest first-time winner of a Grand Slam, having clinched 24 tour titles and an Olympic gold medal already.
He is also bidding to become a first German major champion since Boris Becker’s Australian Open triumph in 1996.
He will come up against the in-form 10th seed Cobolli, who was handed a stunning walkover by his compatriot Matteo Arnaldi just minutes before their semi-final was supposed to take place on Court Philippe-Chatrier.
Arnaldi, the world No104, had strung together a fairytale run to the final four that included victories over seeds Talon Griekspoor and Frances Tiafoe, as well as 2021 finalist Stefanos Tsitsipas, but he was forced to withdraw 20 minutes before walking onto court after suffering a virus.
World No14 Cobolli has ousted fourth seed Felix Auger-Aliassime and 18th seed Learner Tien en route to his first ever major final.
