Alexander Zverev finally claimed the Grand Slam title that had eluded him for so long, defeating Italy’s Flavio Cobolli 6-1, 4-6, 6-4, 6-7 (5/7), 6-1 in a dramatic five-set French Open final on Sunday to become the first German man to win a major since Boris Becker at the 1996 Australian Open.
The second seed required four hours and 16 minutes on Court Philippe-Chatrier to see off the tenth-seeded Cobolli, converting on his second match point as his opponent shanked an overhead to end the contest. It was Zverev’s fourth Grand Slam final and his second at Roland Garros, a venue where he had suffered a deeply painful near-miss before. The most agonising of all his major defeats remained his first final appearance, when he squandered a two-set lead against Dominic Thiem at the 2020 US Open and failed to serve out the championship. The now-retired Thiem was watching from the stands on Sunday as Zverev finally put those memories to rest, six years on.
Zverev was handed a significant opportunity by the injury-enforced absence of reigning champion Carlos Alcaraz and the surprise early exits of Jannik Sinner and Novak Djokovic. He was not always convincing, making 54 unforced errors across the match, but his experience and resilience ultimately proved the difference against an opponent playing in his first Grand Slam final.
Cobolli, 24, had never previously reached a Slam semi-final, and his last-four opponent Matteo Arnaldi had withdrawn through illness to gift him a place in the final. The nerves showed early. Cobolli made 16 unforced errors in an error-strewn opening set that lasted just 39 minutes and slipped away from him almost without a fight.
He regrouped impressively, however, settling into the match with three successive holds of serve in the second set before breaking Zverev in the seventh game. The German had been untroubled on serve until that point, but produced a scrappy game featuring two double-faults and a wild forehand on break point, pausing to gesture angrily towards his coaching staff. Cobolli grew in confidence and served out the second set to breathe life into the final.
The third set was of considerably higher quality, but slipped from Cobolli’s grasp in the tenth game. Leading 30-0, he lost four consecutive points, including a poor forehand that flew well wide on set point to hand Zverev the lead. Cobolli struck back immediately with a break at the start of the fourth set, and neither player could pull clear as both were broken twice in a tight contest. Cobolli saved the set when he was serving for it at 5-4, forced a tie-break and took it with a blistering forehand winner on his second set point to level the match.
The deciding set, however, belonged entirely to Zverev. He broke in the opening game and never relinquished his advantage. Cobolli’s hopes were extinguished when he missed a break-back point and immediately dropped serve again to fall 3-0 behind. Zverev survived three further break points in the fourth game and eased to the title from there, falling to the clay in celebration as the match ended.
Cobolli will climb into the world’s top ten for the first time next week despite the defeat, a considerable consolation for a player who had no previous Grand Slam semi-final experience before this fortnight.
