Always well placed but never titled in a Grand Slam, the world No.3 Alexander Zverev, 29, dismissed the Czech Jakub Mensik on Friday to qualify for his second Roland-Garros final, of which he is the favorite.
Published on: 06/05/2026 - 6:47 p.m. Modified on: 06/05/2026 - 8:51 p.m.
A new chance to win a Grand Slam, which has so far always eluded him. World number 3 Alexander Zverev qualified on Friday June 5 for the Roland-Garros final, where he will be favorite, by dismissing the Czech Jakub Mensik (7-5, 6-2, 3-6, 6-3) in 3 hours 01 minutes.
The German will face on Sunday the Italian Flavio Cobolli (14th), qualified without playing after the withdrawal of his compatriot Matteo Arnaldi, in what will constitute his best chance to finally join the club of winners of a Major, after three failures: at the US Open in 2020, in Paris in 2024 and at the Australian Open in 2025.
“I knew it was going to be the hardest match I had to play here (this year). I'm happy to have won,” he reacted. “I hope to play a great match again on Sunday.”
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Olympic champion in 2021 in Tokyo, Zverev has a reputation as a talented player but with a wavering mentality in important moments since he lost three Grand Slam finals. So many missed opportunities on a circuit set up in a cup ruled by the “Big 3” (Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic), then by Jannik Sinner and Carlos Alcaraz.
In 2024, Porte d'Auteuil, he led two rounds to one against the young Spaniard before collapsing.
His love rating also suffered from accusations of domestic violence which resulted in him being sentenced in 2023 by the German courts to a fine of 450,000 euros. Zverev, who had appealed, and his ex-partner and mother of his daughter reached an agreement which put an end to the proceedings.
Winner of 24 titles on the ATP circuit, Zverev arrived at Roland Garros without having won a single tournament this year – a rarity – having lost his only contested final, at the Masters 1000 in Madrid.
Dominate without trembling
The pressure increased tenfold by the withdrawal of Alcaraz, double title holder, and the eliminations of world number 1 Jannik Sinner and Novak Djokovic who had beaten him in the quarterfinals last year in Paris, could have derailed him.
But the German has dominated without trembling since the start of the fortnight, whether in the heatwave during the first rounds, or then against opponents from a new generation called to supplant its elders.
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After sweeping the Spanish sensation Rafael Jodar (29th), 19 years old, in the quarter, he did it again against Jakub Mensik, 27th player in the world at 20 years old, crowned with a prestigious success against the Brazilian nugget Joao Fonseca (30th) in the previous round.
In the first set, Zverev showed realism by converting his first break point obtained after 55 minutes, five games all. Earlier, he had saved three break points from Mensik which would have allowed the Czech to lead 5-3.
The second round, completed in 34 minutes, suggested an unsurprising end, on a Philippe-Chatrier court as silent as the German's domination was glaring.
But Mensik, who has already won two five-set marathons during the fortnight, did not give up. He regained the flow of his game after a medical timeout of around ten minutes in the third set. After more than two hours of match, he finally took his opponent's serve, to move towards winning the set.
An entry break in the fourth set put Alexander Zverev back on track, who continued until concluding on his serve.
With AFP
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