PARIS (AP) — Jannik Sinner lost early. Carlos Alcaraz withdrew due to injury.
The pressure has been on Alexander Zverev to finally win an elusive Grand Slam title and now the second-seeded German is only one victory away from raising the French Open trophy.
Zverev reached the fourth major final of his career after beating 20-year-old Czech Jakub Mensik 7-5, 6-2, 3-6, 6-3 in the Roland Garros semifinals on Friday.
In Sunday’s final, Zverev will face 14th-ranked Flavio Cobolli or 104th Matteo Arnaldi, who were playing in an all-Italian semifinal later.
Zverev has been an overwhelming favorite for the title ever since the top-ranked Sinner struggled in the first week’s heat wave and wasted a two set and 5-1 lead against Juan Manuel Cerundolo in the second round.
Alcaraz, the two-time reigning champion, withdrew before the tournament with an injured right wrist.
The 27th-ranked Mensik, who was playing in his first Grand Slam semifinal, struggled with five double faults.
It will be Zverev’s second French Open final, having wasted a lead of two sets to one against Alcaraz in the 2024 championship match.
Zverev had an even bigger advantage — two sets to none — in the 2020 U.S. Open final and lost that one, too, to Dominic Thiem. He was also beaten in straight sets by Sinner in the 2025 Australian Open final.
Wind and mishits
Despite overcast and windy conditions at the start, the roof was open on Court Philippe-Chatrier and both players struggled with mishits early on.
Mensik relied often on serve-and-volley tactics while Zverev was more solid from the baseline of the red clay court.
Mensik double-faulted twice late in the first set, leading to the first break.
Zverev broke again early in the second after running down a drop shot from Mensik and then went ahead 5-2 when Mensik double-faulted again.
Mensik took medical timeout
Early in the third, Mensik had his neck treated by a trainer and then left the court for a medical timeout.
When play resumed, Zverev moved Mensik off the court with well-angled shots and the Czech threw his racket in desperation at a ball he knew he couldn’t reach.
There were more shouts for “Sascha” — Zverev’s nickname — but the crowd attempted to help Mensik back into the match with chants of “Let’s go, Mensik, Let’s go.”
When Mensik produced two well-executed drop shots to finally break Zverev’s serve and take a 4-2 lead in the third, he pumped his fist as the crowd came to life.
But when Mensik rushed the net after a slice serve to the deuce court midway through the fourth set and Zverev used his long wingspan to produce a looping cross-court return that dipped over the net beyond his reach, Mensik just smiled — perhaps realizing in that moment that Zverev simply had too much game for him.
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AP tennis: https://apnews.com/hub/tennis
