Zverev reaches French Open final, one win from first Grand Slam title
Alexander Zverev is one win from a first major after beating Jakub Menšík, a result that turns years of near-misses into a career-defining final.
Alexander Zverev has reached the point that has long defined the limits of his career: one match from a first Grand Slam title. The world No. 3 and Roland Garros second seed defeated 20-year-old Jakub Menšík 7-5, 6-2, 3-6, 6-3 in the French Open semi-finals on Friday, moving into his second final in Paris and the fourth Grand Slam final of his career.
For Zverev, this was not just another victory on the clay at Roland Garros. It was another chance to confront a record that has too often ended in disappointment. The 28-year-old German is a three-time Grand Slam runner-up and still searching for the major breakthrough that has eluded him through multiple deep runs and final defeats. His path back to the championship match has revived the central question around his career: whether sustained excellence can finally be matched by one decisive win.
The context in Paris only sharpened that test. Several top names were gone by the time Zverev took the court, leaving him as the highest seed remaining in the draw. That made the semi-final against Menšík less a straightforward progression than a pressure point, with the tournament increasingly shaped around Zverev’s opportunity. He answered in four sets, dropping the third but regaining control to close out the match in 2 hours and 45 minutes of play.
Menšík, seeded 26th, had already marked out the biggest week of his career by reaching his first French Open semi-final. The 20-year-old Czech had nothing to lose against a player with far more major experience, but Zverev’s composure in the key stretches proved decisive. The result sent him back to the championship match on the Roland-Garros clay where he lost the 2024 final to Carlos Alcaraz in five sets.
Zverev will meet either Flavio Cobolli or Matteo Arnaldi in Sunday’s final. Reuters reported that he said he was focused on the final and that there was still one match to play. For Zverev, that is the point now: one last performance to decide whether this French Open becomes another near-miss or the title that finally changes the record around him.
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