Alexander Zverev into Roland-Garros final against Flavio Cobolli
Germany’s perennial tennis bridesmaid Alexander Zverev will get another shot at his first grand slam title at this year’s Roland-Garros final.
The world number 3, who is the only top five player to advance to the semi-finals in men’s and women’s categories, advanced to her fourth major final and second place in Paris with a 7-5, 6-2, 3-6, 6-3 victory over Czech marathon man Jakub Mensik, which lasted more than three hours.
Zverev will face 10th seed Flavio Cobolli in the final after fellow Italian Matteo Arnaldi withdrew from the semi-finals due to a viral illness. This will be Cobolli’s first grand slam final.
The last player to reach the semi-finals of a major was Australia’s Nick Kyrgios at Wimbledon in 2022.
“This road is amazing [Mensik] Played for the last two weeks. He played with so many incredible players and I knew he would be the toughest challenge I have ever faced. I succeeded, I won, I am happy,” said Zverev.
“He started playing great in the third set, he really stepped up another level but this is a grand slam, these are best-of-five matches. You know something is going to happen. The opponents will play better. You have to deal with it. You have to manage it.”
“I did and I hope to play another great game on Sunday.”
Arnaldi reached his first major quarter-final, playing 18 sets over 17 hours and 42 minutes, and advanced to the semi-finals after another Italian, Matteo Berrettini, retired after trailing 7-5, 5-2 due to a hip injury.
The 25-year-old has taken almost two hours longer than any other player to reach the last eight of any grand slam since the ATP Tour started recording match times in 1991.
Roland-Garros has been Zverev’s most successful grand slam, given his quarter-final appearance in 2018-19 and three successive semi-finals in 2021-23 – but it has also been one of major heartache.
He lost the 2024 Roland-Garros championship match two sets to one to Carlos Alcaraz after suffering a complete rupture of his right ankle ligaments midway through the match against Rafael Nadal in what was shaping up to be a classic semifinal two years ago.
This serious ankle injury ended Zverev’s 2022 season and added to his tale of woe as he tries to shed the unwanted tag of best male singles player without a major singles title.
Time was running out for the 29-year-old, whose career overlapped with the “Big Three” era of Novak Djokovic, Nadal and Roger Federer and the new generation of Jannik Sinner and Alcaraz, but he could end up being the last man standing in a wild two-week battle at Roland-Garros.
Zverev, who won an Olympic singles gold medal in Tokyo in 2021, became the title favorite last week when Sinner and then Djokovic shockingly exited the tournament in successive fashion.
These results meant that the rising German star made it through the draw amicably. No. 27 Mensik, who is ranked as high as 12 in the world, and 19-year-old up-and-comer Rafael Jodar were the highest-ranked opponents he played.
However, Mensik presented a real threat to Zverev.
The 20-year-old rising Czech player left the field in a wheelchair due to full-body cramps following his almost five-hour second-round victory over Argentinian Mariano Navone.
Mensik was given little chance in the next round against Australian Alex de Minaur, especially when he lost the first set 6-0, but he attacked the 8th seed in the next three sets. He managed to knock out Andrey Rublev in five sets and then ended young Joao Fonseca’s streak in the quarter-finals.
Mensik also started well against Zverev and will rue not being able to capitalize on three break points, two in a row, in the eighth game of the opening set.
His best chance came in the third – after Zverev missed his first serve – but he hit a decent forehand, then missed a golden opportunity on the next point when he netted a midfield forehand with his opponent defenseless at the net.
Zverev ran away gleefully and soon took advantage of Mensik’s poor service game.
The Czech double-faulted twice to fall behind 15-30 after five, and Zverev took control of the set by punishing Mensik’s poor shot at the break point.
There was a cortege in the second set.
At 198 centimeters tall, Zverev is one of the best servers on the tour and with his aggressive tennis style, he lost only one first serve point as he broke Mensik in the third and seventh games of the set.
Mensik appeared to be barely hanging on in the early stages of the third set when he requested a medical timeout off the court with a neck problem that may have contributed to double faults at inopportune moments.
However, he made two excellent shots against the flow of play, breaking Zverev for the first time and taking the lead 4-2.
Mensik’s all-court play was a highlight of his performance over the fortnight, unleashing a series of serve-and-volleys that even Pat Rafter would have been proud of as he clinched the third set. But the comeback bid was derailed at one such point early in the fourth quarter.
Mensik, who was one point away from holding a single, fired a low volley before making a succession of backhand errors, the second of which routinely missed Zverev’s mis-return to fall 0-2 down.
Zverev did not give him another opportunity.
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