Zverev strikes for another shot at final glory

In doing so, the 29-year-old ties with David Ferrer on 44 Roland-Garros victories, the 10th highest in men’s singles in the Open era. Win number 45 against Flavio Cobolli, who progressed into the final following Matteo Arnaldi's withdrawal, would secure Zverev his long-awaited maiden major.

“Amazing the way he (Mensik) played the last two weeks, he beat so many unbelievable players and I knew it was going to be my toughest challenge so far. I managed, I won, I’m happy,” the No.2 seed said.

“He started to play amazing in the third set, he really stepped up a level. But this is a Grand Slam, best of five sets, this will happen, opponents will play better. You have to deal with it, you have to manage it. I hope to play another great match on Sunday.”

Roland-Garros 1999 champion Andre Agassi, basking in the sun in the front row, would have been proud of a fizzing early backhand pass down the line from Mensik. It was a warning shot. At 4-3 up, the Czech youngster anticipated a Zverev volley and sprinted out wide to skim a backhand sliced pass away from the towering German’s reach.

Two showstopping moments, but Zverev's experience began to shine through as he fended off three break points to hold for 4-4.

The Roland-Garros 2024 finalist was hitting cleanly and capitalised on a loose Mensik service game at 5-5, to open up a set lead. The 29-year-old then lured Mensik into the net and whipped a forehand cross court to spark a crucial 2-1 break en route to clinching the second set.

The Czech had already outlasted two opponents across five sets this fortnight; he had gone the distance against Mariano Navone and Andrey Rublev. Was it now Zverev’s turn?

Mensik was dragged from side to side once again and another catapulted Zverev forehand prompted him to throw his racquet across the court in desperation. The 20-year-old was seemingly always just off the pace.

Then the world No.27 showed why he is one of the most exciting prospects on tour; Mensik chipped two forehand drop shots to level up in the third. Raising his fist to the crowd, he was giving his all and rattled through the remaining three games to haul the world No.3 into a fourth set.

Just like countless times over the past decade, Zverev recalibrated, pressed the restart button and used all his Grand Slam experience to earn a 124th major victory to launch into his second Roland-Garros final.

Zverev becomes the fifth active player to hit multiple men’s singles finals in Paris, joining Novak Djokovic, Carlos Alcaraz, Casper Ruud and Stan Wawrinka.

“Playing this court is the toughest, but also the nicest in the world," he said. "You know that anything can happen at any given moment. You can always try to find a way.

“You have to fight for every point, you have to play every point like it’s your last. This is the special and fun thing about Roland-Garros.”

Looking ahead to Sunday's final, Zverev holds a 3-1 record over Cobolli. The pair have split duels in 2026, with the Italian having the final say on Zverev's home clay in Munich 6-3, 6-3 last month, before the German gained revenge 6-1, 6-4 on the red dirt of Madrid.

It's a case of friendship aside on Sunday.

"I think when you play a Grand Slam final, it's not that difficult, because it means you reached the best stage in tennis and it's nice to share it, for sure," Zverev said.

"Of course, you still try to beat each other, and you still try to win, but that's okay. For me, he's just a nice person. He has a good heart. He is extremely funny if you get to know him. I like his father, who is also extremely funny. He's a good guy."