Ill Arnaldi bails on semi; Zverev to face Cobolli for title

Flavio Cobolli got a free pass on Friday into the French Open final when semi-final opponent Matteo Arnaldi withdrew with a virus 20 minutes before their match.  

Arnaldi had spent nearly 20 on court in his previous six matches. He pulled the plug on the historic all-Italian semi.

Cobolli, Arnaldi and Matteo Berrettini all reached the quarter-finals in a show of force for Italian tennis after world No. 1 Jannik Sinner was dumped out in the second round. 

Berrettini was unable to go on with a hip injury as he played Cobolli.

The last major payer to withdraw in a Grand Slam semi-final came in 2022, when when Rafael Nadal withdrew before facing Nick Kyrgios.

Zverev leads Cobolli 3-1 in their Lexus ATP Head2Head series. They played in the third round at Roland Garros last year, when Zverev triumphed 6-2, 7-6(4), 6-1.

“It’s difficult to be here, I didn’t want to do this, to give up like this,” Cobolli said.

“I felt unwell last night, at dinner, I had stomach pains. When I woke up, I vomited, I tried to sleep but I couldn’t.

“I couldn’t eat anything all day. As soon as I ate or drank something, I had to go back to the toilet.

“I couldn’t eat anything, I couldn’t drink anything, I really couldn’t play.”

Cobolli will play on Sunday for the title against Alexander Zverev, who reached his second Paris 7-5, 6-2, 3-6, 6-3 over Jakub Mensik.

The 29-year-old Zverev, who lost the Roland Garros final two years ago to Carlos Alcaraz has come up short in three previous title matches at the majors (2025 Australian Open and 2020 US Open).

He was competing in his fifth semi-final at the clay major.

“This was my toughest challenge so far,” Zverev said. “But I managed, I won and I’m happy.”

““He started playing amazingly in the third set. “He really stepped up to another level.

“But this is a Grand Slam, it’s best-of-five-set matches. Opponents are going to play better.

“You have to deal with it… I did and I hope to play another great match on Sunday.”

Mensik was playing in his first semi-final at a major but missed the chance to become the youngest men’s finalist here since a 20-year-old Rafael Nadal in 2006.

Zverev lined up for a Sunday final against one of two Italians, Favio Cobolli or Matteo Arnaldi, who has spent nearly 20 hours on court in his previous Paris matches at this edition.

The seed’s victory was his 44th at the venue and tied him on the statistical lead with David Ferrer.

Zverev fought back in the fourth set after losing the third, breaking for 2-0 and maintaining the margin all the way to match point, where he fired an eighth ace to advance after three hours. .    

IAnything can happen on clay at any given moment. You can always try to find a way, that is not the case on fast grass or hardcourt.

“That is the special art of Roland Garros.”

Zverev and his Czech opponent took their time in a lengthy opening set that took an hour to complete.

Mensik had the first chances in the eighth game with three break points – all saved by the German seed.

Zverev then struck in the final game, driving a winner deep into the corner and belting down an ace on his third set point chance to take early control.

The pace picked up early in the second set, with Zverev breaking for a 2-1 lead as his big-match experience came into play.

The German earned a double break as Mensik sent down a double-fault to drop to 2-5; Zverev served out the set a game later, taking just 35 minutes.

Mensik called for the trainer after holding for 2-1 and was taken off court for a medical timeout to treat a neck problem after getting a minor massage at his chair.

He returned to the court in a sprint, seemingly refreshed and put his enthusiasm to good use with his first break of the German serve for a 4-2 lead from a winning dropshot.

Mensik handed the world No. 3 only his second loss of a set this fortnight with a dropshot winner on set point to preserve his comeback hopes after two and a quarter hours of play.