Roland Garros, Zverev first finalist awaits Cobolli or Arnaldi

Alexander Zverev is one step closer to his long-awaited first Slam. The German tennis player overcame Czech Jakub Mensik in the semifinals of Roland Garros, qualifying for the last act of the Paris tournament for the second time in his career. Zverev, in his fourth Slam final, beat rising star Mensik in four sets with the scores of 7-5, 6-2, 3-6, 6-3 in nearly three hours of play.

Almost business as usual for the German, who is looking forward to the opportunity given the simultaneous absence of Jannik Sinner, Carlos Alcaraz and Novak Djokovic. The Teutonic tennis player seemed decidedly determined and not at all affected by the tension: against Mensik he was very focused and left no chance for the young Czech, who paid for his inexperience in the hottest moments of the match.

After winning cleanly the first two partials, Zverev experienced an empty passage in the third set but immediately came back into the match in the fourth, raising the level and closing the match also thanks to a very solid serve.

Now Zverev awaits the other finalist, which will surely be an Italian: Flavio Cobolli or Matteo Arnaldi, on court in the evening in the Italian derby. The German spoke this way after the victory, “In the last two weeks Mensik played unbelievable, but I am happy that I managed the challenge well and won. In the third he started playing unbelievable, on another level, but this is a Slam, you play 3 out of 5 and you have to accept it and manage it. The final? I hope to play a great match on Sunday. The atmosphere is always fantastic, the French audience is always inside the match.”