\n The pressure has been on Alexander Zverev to finally win an elusive grand slam title and now the second-seeded German is only one victory away from raising the French Open trophy.\n <\/p>\n
\n Zverev reached the fourth major final of his career after beating 20-year-old Jakub Mensik 7-5, 6-2, 3-6, 6-3 in the Roland Garros semifinals on Friday.\n <\/p>\n
\n In Sunday\u2019s final, Zverev will face 14th-ranked Flavio Cobolli.\n <\/p>\n
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\n Cobolli advanced when 104th-ranked Matteo Arnaldi withdrew before their all-Italian semifinal due to a virus.\n <\/p>\n
\n Arnaldi spent 19 hours, 42 minutes on court to reach the semifinal \u2013 more than anyone at a grand slam since 1991. He said he was vomiting overnight.\n <\/p>\n
\n \u201cI tried to get ready \u2026 but every time I get up I feel dizzy,\u201d Arnaldi said. \u201cI can\u2019t move and I can\u2019t eat and I can\u2019t drink. So there was really no way that I will be able to play.\u201d\n <\/p>\n
\n Zverev has been an overwhelming favorite for the title ever since the top-ranked Sinner struggled in the first week\u2019s heat wave and wasted a two set and 5-1 lead against Juan Manuel Cerundolo in the second round.\n <\/p>\n
\n Alcaraz, the two-time reigning champion, withdrew before the tournament with an injured right wrist.\n <\/p>\n
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\n The 27th-ranked Mensik, who was playing in his first grand slam semifinal, struggled with five double faults.\n <\/p>\n
\n Mensik overcame post-match cramps that landed him in a wheelchair last week, got past Andrey Rublev in five sets, and beat rising Brazilian Jo\u00e3o Fonseca in straight sets in the quarterfinals.\n <\/p>\n
\n \u201cHe beat so many unbelievable players. I knew it was going to be the toughest challenge that I had so far. And I managed. I won. I\u2019m happy,\u201d Zverev said.\n <\/p>\n
\n It will be Zverev\u2019s second French Open final, having wasted a lead of two sets to one against Alcaraz in the 2024 championship match<\/a>.\n <\/p>\n \n Zverev had an even bigger advantage \u2013 two sets to none \u2013 in the 2020 US Open final and lost that one, too, to Dominic Thiem<\/a>. He was also beaten in straight sets by Sinner in the 2025 Australian Open final<\/a>.\n <\/p>\n Wind and mishits<\/p>\n \n Despite overcast and windy conditions at the start, the roof was open on Court Philippe-Chatrier and both players struggled with mishits early on.\n <\/p>\n \n Mensik relied often on serve-and-volley tactics while Zverev was more solid from the baseline of the red clay court.\n <\/p>\n \n Mensik double-faulted twice late in the first set, leading to the first break.\n <\/p>\n \n Zverev broke again early in the second after running down a drop shot from Mensik and then went ahead 5-2 when Mensik double-faulted again.\n <\/p>\n \n Early in the third, Mensik had his neck treated by a trainer and then left the court for a medical timeout.\n <\/p>\n \n When play resumed, Zverev moved Mensik off the court with well-angled shots and the Czech player threw his racket in desperation at a ball he knew he couldn\u2019t reach.\n <\/p>\n \n There were more shouts for \u201cSascha\u201d \u2013 Zverev\u2019s nickname \u2013 but the crowd attempted to help Mensik back into the match with chants of \u201cLet\u2019s go, Mensik, Let\u2019s go.\u201d\n <\/p>\n \n When Mensik produced two well-executed drop shots to finally break Zverev\u2019s serve and take a 4-2 lead in the third, he pumped his fist as the crowd came to life.\n <\/p>\n \n It was just the second set that Zverev dropped in the tournament.\n <\/p>\n \n \u201cHe started playing amazing the third set,\u201d Zverev said. \u201cThis is best-of-five-set matches: You know things (are) going to happen. Opponents are going to play better. You have to deal with it. You have to manage it. I did. And I hope to play another great match on Sunday.\u201d\n <\/p>\n \n When Mensik rushed the net after a slice serve to the deuce court midway through the fourth set and Zverev used his long wingspan to produce a looping cross-court return that dipped over the net beyond his reach, Mensik just smiled \u2013 perhaps realizing in that moment that Zverev simply had too much game for him.\n <\/p>\n \n Moments after Zverev\u2019s last grand slam final in Australia in 2025, a person in the stadium yelled out the names of two of his ex-girlfriends who accused him of physical abuse.\n <\/p>\n \n One case was resolved following an agreement between German prosecutors, lawyers for Zverev and his former partner. The ATP Tour investigated another case and concluded there was insufficient evidence.\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"ParisAP\u00a0\u2014\u00a0 Jannik Sinner lost early. Carlos Alcaraz withdrew due to injury. The pressure has been on Alexander Zverev…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":689059,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[72],"tags":[99,428],"class_list":["post-689058","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tennis","tag-sports","tag-tennis"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/689058","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=689058"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/689058\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/689059"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=689058"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=689058"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=689058"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"Mensik](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/ap26156609832578.jpg\")
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