Zverev one win away from a long-awaited Grand Slam title

Germany's Alexander Zverev has reached his third Grand Slam final by beating Czech Jiri Mensik 6-3, 6-4, 7-6 in the Roland-Garros semi-finals. The BBC Tennis report stresses that Zverev is one win from his first open-court tennis Slam title, after long being seen as a long-overdue favourite.

Serving was the decisive feature throughout. Zverev held his first-serve accuracy at 71% and won 18 points on serve. The 21-year-old Czech player Mensik out-aced Zverev in the rally-end statistic but converted none of his break-point opportunities: 0/4.

The third set, which could have closed the match, gave Mensik fresh hope. He came close to breaking serve at 4-4 before retreating. In the tie-break Zverev closed it 7-3; the stands stood up.

In his post-match comments to the BBC, Zverev said: "I have worked for this run for ten years. I started slowly for the season on clay at Roland-Garros, but each week I felt stronger. I know what is waiting for me against Cobolli on Sunday — bold attacking tennis and fast decisions."

His opponent in the final, Italy's Flavio Cobolli, will play his first Slam final. Three weeks after going out of the Rome event with a defeat, he has had an unexpected rise in Paris; he beat Daniil Medvedev in the quarter-final and Frances Tiafoe in the semi-final. He started in the ATP ranking at 35; confirmation that he will enter the top 15 alone came on Tuesday morning.

On statistics, Cobolli's serve speed does not exceed Zverev's level, but his topspin pattern is close to a template from the Rafael Nadal era. Cobolli, as the only player still in the draw who has played five-set matches in Paris, may be more tired.

The career context: Zverev lost the 2020 US Open final and the 2024 Roland-Garros final. His US Open defeat to Dominic Thiem, after going two sets up and falling back, is remembered as the deepest wound of his career. He lost the 2024 Paris final to Carlos Alcaraz.

Cobolli's story is different: he first appeared in the Roland-Garros main draw in 2022, coming through the qualifying rounds to reach the third round. Over the next three years he prepared at the head of the professional circuit for the national Olympics; through this year, after a coaching change, he moved to a more patient attacking strategy.

The final will start at 15:00 local time in Paris. The BBC and Eurosport are covering the live broadcast. The weather forecast is sunny and 24°C; for the clay, wind is expected to remain below 5 km/h.

This Sunday Roland-Garros will see a final different from any in the past 20 years: the first Slam final without Rafael Nadal at all. A Zverev victory would be Germany's first men's Grand Slam title since the 1990s; a Cobolli victory would carry the first Slam to the Italian court since Adriano Panatta.