PARIS (AP) \u2014 Jannik Sinner lost early. Carlos Alcaraz withdrew due to injury.<\/p>\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.<\/p>\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.<\/p>\n
In Sunday\u2019s final, Zverev will face 14th-ranked Flavio Cobolli.<\/p>\n
Cobolli advanced when 104th-ranked Matteo Arnaldi withdrew before their all-Italian semifinal due to a virus.<\/p>\n
Arnaldi spent 19 hours, 42 minutes on court to reach the semifinal \u2014 more than anyone at a Grand Slam since 1991. He said he was vomiting overnight.<\/p>\n
\u201cI tried to get ready … 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<\/p>\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.<\/p>\n
Alcaraz, the two-time reigning champion, withdrew before the tournament with an injured right wrist.<\/p>\n
The 27th-ranked Mensik, who was playing in his first Grand Slam semifinal, struggled with five double faults.<\/p>\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.<\/p>\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.<\/p>\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.<\/p>\n
Zverev had an even bigger advantage \u2014 two sets to none \u2014 in the 2020 U.S. Open final and lost that one, too, to Dominic Thiem. He was also beaten in straight sets by Sinner in the 2025 Australian Open final.
\nWind and mishits<\/p>\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.<\/p>\n
Mensik relied often on serve-and-volley tactics while Zverev was more solid from the baseline of the red clay court.<\/p>\n
Mensik double-faulted twice late in the first set, leading to the first break.<\/p>\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.
\nMensik\u2019s medical timeout<\/p>\n
Early in the third, Mensik had his neck treated by a trainer and then left the court for a medical timeout.<\/p>\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.<\/p>\n
There were more shouts for \u201cSascha\u201d \u2014 Zverev\u2019s nickname \u2014 but the crowd attempted to help Mensik back into the match with chants of \u201cLet\u2019s go, Mensik, Let\u2019s go.\u201d<\/p>\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.<\/p>\n
It was just the second set that Zverev dropped in the tournament.<\/p>\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<\/p>\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 \u2014 perhaps realizing in that moment that Zverev simply had too much game for him.
\nAbuse allegations<\/p>\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.<\/p>\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.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
PARIS (AP) \u2014 Jannik Sinner lost early. Carlos Alcaraz withdrew due to injury. 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. Zverev reached the fourth major final of his career after beating … Continue reading Zverev beats Mensik in French Open semifinals and will face Cobolli for elusive Grand Slam title<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":65,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1452],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1512828","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sports-news"],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":true,"date":"2026-06-07 12:47:44","action":"change-status","newStatus":"trash","terms":[0],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ktbb.com\/post\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1512828","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ktbb.com\/post\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ktbb.com\/post\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ktbb.com\/post\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/65"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ktbb.com\/post\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1512828"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/ktbb.com\/post\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1512828\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1512829,"href":"https:\/\/ktbb.com\/post\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1512828\/revisions\/1512829"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ktbb.com\/post\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1512828"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ktbb.com\/post\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1512828"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ktbb.com\/post\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1512828"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}