- Zverev Powers Into French Open Final to Face Cobolli After Defeating Mensik
Second seed Alexander Zverev moved within touching distance of a long-awaited first Grand Slam title after defeating rising Czech star Jakub Mensik in four sets to book his place in the 2026 French Open final.
The German battled past the 20-year-old 7-5, 6-2, 3-6, 6-3 in Friday’s semifinal at Roland Garros, setting up a championship clash against Italy’s Flavio Cobolli on Sunday.
Cobolli secured his spot in the final under unfortunate circumstances after fellow Italian Matteo Arnaldi withdrew from their semifinal due to illness shortly before the match.
For Zverev, the victory marked another significant step in his pursuit of a maiden Grand Slam crown after years of near misses on the sport’s biggest stages. The world number three has previously lost three Slam finals, including a heartbreaking defeat to Carlos Alcaraz in the 2024 Roland Garros final and a collapse from two sets up against Dominic Thiem in the 2020 US Open final.
“This is a Grand Slam, it’s best of five, things are going to happen, opponents are going to play better. I managed it,” Zverev said after the match.
“I hope to play another great match on Sunday.”
The 29-year-old entered the tournament under intense pressure following the early exits of top stars Jannik Sinner and Novak Djokovic, but he has handled the expectations impressively, dropping only two sets on his route to the final
Zverev’s experience proved decisive against Mensik, who was appearing in his first Grand Slam semifinal. The Czech youngster showed flashes of brilliance but struggled physically as the match wore on after enduring two grueling five-set battles earlier in the tournament.
The opening set was fiercely contested, with Zverev saving three break points to prevent Mensik from moving 5-3 ahead before earning the decisive break in the 11th game to take the set 7-5.
The second set quickly swung in the German’s favour as he dominated on serve and broke twice to cruise 6-2 ahead.
Mensik appeared in trouble early in the third set when he took a medical timeout for a neck issue, but the 26th seed responded courageously. Mixing in clever drop shots and aggressive baseline play, he broke for a 4-2 lead before closing out the set to hand Zverev only his second set defeat of the tournament.
Any hopes of a comeback were short-lived, however, as Zverev immediately regained control in the fourth set. Consecutive backhand errors from Mensik handed the German an early break, and the three-time Grand Slam runner-up powered through to victory despite briefly frustrating sections of the crowd with line-call disputes and a time violation warning.
Zverev sealed the win on his first match point when Mensik sent a backhand into the net.
The German now heads into Sunday’s final as the clear favourite, holding a 3-1 head-to-head advantage over Cobolli and seeking to end a 14-month wait for a title dating back to his triumph in Munich in April 2025.
Meanwhile, Arnaldi’s impressive tournament run came to a disappointing end after illness forced him out of the competition. Ranked world number 104, the Italian had become one of the surprise stories of the tournament after surviving several marathon encounters to reach his first Grand Slam semifinal.
“It’s tough — for how the tournament was, for how many hours I spent on court, I felt pretty good,” Arnaldi explained.
“Every time I get up I feel dizzy and not the best… so that was the right decision for me.”
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Sunday’s final now presents Zverev with another opportunity to finally break his Grand Slam curse and complete the biggest achievement of his career on the clay courts of Paris.
