Second seed Alexander Zverev won his first Grand Slam tournament on Sunday night at the Roland Garros French Open after a five-set victory over the 10th seed Flavio Cobolli.
Zverev prevailed 6-1, 4-6, 6-4, 6-7, 6-1 after four hours and 16 minutes to become the first German man to lift the French Open singles crown since tennis was opened to professional players in 1968.
"This court is so special to me in so many ways," said Zverev after receiving the Coupe des Mousquetaires from the 1976 champion Adriano Panatta.
"I've had the best times and the worst times," Zverev added in reference to an injury during a semi-final against Rafael Nadal that kept him off the circuit for nearly a year.
"Four years ago I was lying over there in a corner with broken ligaments and I lost here in the final two years ago. Finally, it's a happy end."
The 29-year-old gave himself the dream start against an opponent playing in his first final at one of the four Grand Slam competitions in Melbourne, Paris, London and New York.
Zverev claimed Cobolli's opening service game and won his own to take the early advantage in the set.
Though Cobolli got on the board at the next time of asking to cut the deficit, Zverev swept through the next four games to wrap up the opener 6-1 after 35 minutes.
Cobolli turns stroll into dogfight
Both men started the second set confidently. But at 3-3 and serving for a 4-3 lead, Zverev began making sloppy errors.
He squandered two separate chances to move ahead before handing his service game to Cobolli.
The 24-year-old Italian, who was playing in his first final at a Grand Slam tournament, seized the momentum and eventually claimed the second set 6-4 to level the match at one set apiece after 93 minutes.
Zverev's first set stroll had become a dogfight.
The world number three edged his way to a 5-4 lead in the third set and capitalised on some wayward shots from Cobolli to claim it 6-4.
However, instead of powering on, Zverev promptly lost his own serve at the start of the fourth set to offer Cobolli a way back into the final.
Cobolli served for it at 5-4 and messed up. But he recovered his composure to win the tiebreak seven points to five to take the match into the fifth set after three and a half hours of play.
Zverev breaks clear in decider
Zverev began the decider by breaking Cobolli’s serve and then holding for 2-0.
The Coupe des Mousquetaires was now his to lose after three hours and 53 minutes.
Cobolli, playing only his second five-set match in four appearances at Roland Garros, lost his next service game to give Zverev the double break and a 3-0 advantage.
Zverev, a veteran of 11 five-setters at the Roland Garros stadium over the past decade, gritted his way to 4-0.
From there, he dug in to complete the victory.
"If someone asked me who deserved this title more, I'd say it is you," said Cobolli during the trophy presentation ceremony.
"I'm happy for you. I'm sad because I was close. I feel it. So now you've achieved your dream, let me win the next one!"
