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Zverev one win away from long-awaited Grand Slam title
Zverev one win away from long-awaited Grand Slam title
Alexander Zverev has won nine clay-court titles, including four at ATP 1000 level
- Published5 June 2026, 16:56 BST
Title favourite Alexander Zverev is one win away from elusive maiden Grand Slam title after coming through his "toughest challenge so far" to beat Jakub Mensik in the French Open semi-finals.
The second seed is through to his fourth major final and second at Roland Garros, having lost to Carlos Alcaraz in five sets in 2024.
Taken to a fourth set for only the second time in the tournament, Zverev kept his composure to win 7-5 6-2 3-6 6-3 against first-time Grand Slam semi-finalist and 26th seed Mensik.
Zverev, who has been the front-runner to lift the Coupe des Mousquetaires since world number one Jannik Sinner and Novak Djokovic suffered shock exits in the first week, will face 10th seed Flavio Cobolli in Sunday's final.
Italian Cobolli advanced to his first Grand Slam final via a walkover after his compatriot Matteo Arnaldi, the world number 104, withdrew minutes before their semi-final with a virus.
Should Zverev win, the 29-year-old will be the seventh oldest first-time Grand Slam men's singles champion in the Open era and the first German man to win a major since Boris Becker at the 1996 Australian Open.
However, his past six defeats have all come against Italian players, including a straight-set loss to Cobolli in the Munich Open semi-finals in April.
Arnaldi withdraws before semi-final with virus
While Zverev has had no shortage of success, with 24 ATP titles and an Olympic gold medal to his name, he has so often been the nearly man on the Grand Slam stage, heading into this match with seven defeats from 10 major semi-finals.
On his three appearances in the finals, he has thrown away a two-sets-to-love lead against Dominic Thiem at the 2020 US Open, lost to Alcaraz in Paris after leading two sets to one, and gone down in straight sets to Sinner in Melbourne in last year.
With his path to the title opening up, all eyes have been on him during the second week - but so far, the German has worn the pressure well.
After a cagey start on Court Philippe-Chatrier, Zverev showcased his superior experience in the big moments, saving three break points in the eighth game and converting his only break opportunity three games later.
He seized control in a clinical second set which lasted just 33 minutes, breaking Mensik twice.
For his part, the Czech overplayed his drop shot and committed five double faults across the opening two sets – a stark contrast to the efficient Zverev, who maintained a 75% first serve percentage and struck eight aces to two double faults.
Mensik, who had looked down and out when he called for medical attention to his neck early in the third set, roared back to deny Zverev a fifth straight-set win of the tournament, seizing his only break point of the set in the sixth game.
Zverev's body language had the hallmarks of another costly self-destruction, with the world number three increasingly irritated as unforced errors flew from his racquet.
But he regrouped to make the decisive break early in the fourth, winning the opening three games and giving up just five points on serve to close down any talk of a decider.
"He [Mensik] beat so many unbelievable players and I knew it was going to be the toughest challenge I had so far. I managed, I won, and I am happy," Zverev said.
"He started playing amazing in the third set. He stepped up to another level. This is a Grand Slam. Opponents are going to play better, and you have to deal with it – and I did."
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