After defeating Jakub Mensik at Roland Garros, Alexander Zverev will face either Flavio Cobolli or Matteo Arnaldi in the final.
Published June 5, 2026
Alexander Zverev defeated second seed Jakub Menshik in four sets to reach his second French Open final and move closer to winning his long-awaited first Grand Slam title.
The German, who beat Mensik 7-5, 6-2, 3-6, 6-3 on Friday, will face either 10th seed Flavio Cobolli or fellow Italian Matteo Arnaldi on Sunday.
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Zverev has had several near misses in major tournaments, losing in the final three times, including against Carlos Alcaraz at Roland Garros two years ago.
“This is a Grand Slam. It’s a best-of-five match. Things will happen, the opponent will play better, and I did it,” Zverev said.
“I hope we can have a great game on Sunday as well.”
But to finally cross the line and lift the Grand Slam trophy, he will be a strong favorite against either Cobolli or world No. 104 Arnaldi.
The world No. 3 was playing in his 11th Grand Slam semi-final and put his experience to good use against young Czech Mensik.
The 20-year-old, who was making it to the final four at a major for the first time, felt tired as the match wore on after his previous struggles in Paris, which included two five-set matches.
Zverev has handled the pressure of being the favorite to win the tournament well since the early exits of Jannik Sinner and Novak Djokovic in the second and third rounds respectively.
He will face a final test of his mental strength on Court Philippe Chatrier in two days, but he will be at least physically fresh having reached the final having lost only two sets in six matches.
“Pure emptiness, nothing in my head,” insisted a smiling Zverev in an on-court interview.
“We are athletes. Very few of us don’t have any thoughts in our heads. Sometimes it’s easier to be stupid and not think too much.”
The 29-year-old has come within one set of victory in the last two tournament finals, when he faced Alcaraz in Paris in 2024 and when he blew a two-set lead over Dominic Thiem at the 2020 US Open.
Zverev is also aiming to end a 14-month title drought since the clay court tournament in Munich last April. A close first set was brought about by a break in the 11th game, where Mensik fought off three break points to prevent him from taking a 5-3 lead.
The 26th seed had no pace in the second set, with Zverev broken twice and dropping only four points on his own serve.
Mensik called for a medical timeout just three games into the third set and appeared to be suffering from a neck injury.
However, he dragged himself into the contest out of nowhere, breaking and taking a 4-2 lead as his use of drop shots began to have more of an impact in the third set.
This shot closed out Love’s hold and sealed the set. Zverev was the only player to lose in the tournament.
But Mensik couldn’t maintain his momentum and a series of unforced backhand errors gave Zverev a break, leaving him trailing 0-2 in the fourth set.
The three-time Grand Slam runner-up advanced from there despite angering some spectators by objecting to two line calls and receiving a warning for a time violation.
Zverev won on his first match point with a backhand from Mensik.
