Flavio Cobolli raises white flag in fifth set, Zverev king of Paris
Alexander Zverev enters the Roland Garros roll of honor for the first time. On the Parisian Central, the Hamburg tennis player overcame Flavio Cobolli with the score of 6-1, 4-6, 6-4, 6-7(5), 6-1 at the end of an intense and spectacular challenge that lasted 4 hours and 20 minutes. After disappointments in the finals of the U.S. Open 2020 and Australian Open 2025, the German finally manages to win one of the four most prestigious tournaments in world tennis. For Cobolli, the bitterness of defeat remains, but also the knowledge that he has played the best Slam of his career, reaching a Major final for the first time.
The 24-year-old Roman can, however, smile about his progress in the rankings: from Monday he will enter the world Top 10 for the first time, standing at No. 10 in the ATP rankings, while in the Race to the ATP Finals in Turin he will rise to fourth place, behind Jannik Sinner, Alexander Zverev and Carlos Alcaraz.
The start is all in Zverev’s favor. The German immediately breaks Cobolli’s serve and dominates the first set thanks to two more breaks, closing with a clear 6-1. The Italian’s reaction came in the second partial. After a very long seventh game, Cobolli took advantage of a moment of difficulty by his opponent and got the decisive break, evening the score at 6-4.
In the third set, balance reigned until the final bars. Zverev misses two consecutive break chances in the fourth game, but at 5-4 he takes advantage of the first useful opportunity to break serve from a more foul than usual Cobolli and pull himself back ahead. The fourth set delivers big emotions. Cobolli flies to 2-0, is caught at 2-2 and, after a new break in the seventh game, fails to close by serving for the set. In the tie-break, however, the Italian finds the energy to nullify his rival’s comeback and, after wasting a first set point, closes at the second opportunity with an extraordinary straight forehand.
In the deciding set, however, Zverev gets off to an overwhelming start and quickly takes a 3-0 lead thanks to two breaks. Cobolli tried to stay in the match, but failed to materialize four total break points. As the minutes passed, the Roman also experienced some difficulties in lateral moves, while the German stretched further with a third break and finally closed the challenge on 6-1, putting his hands on the first Slam of his career.
