Alexander Zverev moved within one win of his first Grand Slam title on Friday, beating 20-year-old Czech Jakub Menšík 7-5, 6-2, 3-6, 6-3 in the French Open semifinals to reach the Roland Garros final for the second time in his career.
The German third seed will meet Italy’s Flavio Cobolli in Sunday’s championship match after the day’s second semifinal never happened. Cobolli’s compatriot Matteo Arnaldi, the world No. 104 who had been the runaway surprise of the fortnight, withdrew before the match with a virus, handing Cobolli a walkover into the first major final of his career.
The outcome guarantees a first-time Grand Slam champion. Neither Zverev, the runner-up here in 2024, nor Cobolli has lifted one of the sport’s four biggest trophies, an unusual situation at a major after years of dominance by the game’s top names.
Against Menšík, Zverev controlled the opening hour, taking the first two sets behind a heavy serve and patient baseline play. The Czech teenager, one of the breakout stories of the tournament, surged to claim the third set, but Zverev steadied himself, broke late in the fourth and closed out the win on Court Philippe-Chatrier.
A wide-open draw after the favorites fell
This year’s Roland Garros tore up the script long before the semifinals, and that is the lens for the region. Two-time defending champion Carlos Alcaraz missed the tournament injured, and the draw beneath the top seeds cracked open in a way it rarely does at the majors.
Latin America arrived in Paris with its best collective chance in years and, by the second week, was out of the men’s draw. Argentina’s Francisco Cerúndolo, the region’s highest-ranked man, fell in a five-set thriller in the round of 32. His younger brother, Juan Manuel Cerúndolo, produced the campaign’s standout result, reaching the last 16 for the first time. Brazil’s teenage talent João Fonseca delivered the headline moment of the first week, while Argentina’s Solana Sierra carried the flag deep into the women’s draw.
No Latin American man has won the Roland Garros singles title since Gastón Gaudio in 2004, and the wait will stretch at least another year. Still, an open era at the top of the men’s game is exactly the kind of opening the region’s clay-court specialists will be eyeing when the tour returns to South American dirt.
How to watch the final in Costa Rica
The men’s singles final is set for Sunday, June 7, at Roland Garros, with Zverev meeting Cobolli for the Coupe des Mousquetaires. The match is expected to begin in the early afternoon in Paris, which would put it in the morning hours in Costa Rica. Check local listings for the confirmed start time and broadcaster.
