3 hours ago
13
Key events
Zverev wins the first set 7-5!
15-0, 30-0, 40-0. Three set points. Mensik provides some resistance, taking the next two points, but it ultimately proves to be futile, as Zverev seals the set from 40-30 with an ace down the T. A smart set from Zverev, who waited patiently for his chance, and seized it when it came.
Zverev breaks: Mensik 5-6 Zverev* (*denotes next server)
Mensik is wavering, and a couple of double faults get Zverev to 30-all. A huge point. Will it be break point – which if Zverev wins it, will leave him serving for the set – or game point? It’s break point, a first of the match for Zverev, as he batters a backhand winner that leaves Mensik rooted to the spot, looking as if he has feet of clay. Mensik decides this break point calls for a drop shot, of which he’s hit so many throughout this set, but Zverev is smart to it, zooms forward, whips the ball over … and Mensik nets!
First set: Mensik* 5-5 Zverev (*denotes next server)
Certainly not immediately, as Mensik secures a love hold, his first of this semi-final, which leaves Zverev serving to stay in the opening set. Which the second seed does with relative ease, landing a couple of aces, but he’s not looking quite as sharp from the baseline as he was a few games ago, it has to be said.
First set: Mensik* 4-4 Zverev (*denotes next server)
Zverev is serving with the new balls, but slides 15-30 down. He appears to be dealing with the slight scoreboard pressure, bossing the point, moving forward, dispatching a nice angled volley … but Mensik, improbably, pulls off a backhand pass down the line! Agassi and his son Jaden, who’s a baseball player having decided at a young age that tennis wasn’t for him (the idea of trying to emulate his dad’s success, along with his mum Steffi Graf’s, probably wasn’t too appealing), are applauding. It’s 15-40 and here are the first break points of the match, and for all the of the pressure Zverev has had on Mensik’s serve, these BPs are for Mensik. A good serve out wide, followed by a big forehand, and Zverev saves them both, before fending off a third too and holding! A big opportunity missed by Mensik – will that come back to haunt him?
First set: Mensik 4-3 Zverev* (*denotes next server)
For Zverev, remember, this is an 11th grand slam semi-final and a fifth at Roland Garros; for Mensik this is a first. Zverev, who lost in the 2024 final having been two sets to one up against Carlos Alcaraz, in one of three major final defeats he’s endured, is pummelling Mensik’s backhand at 30-15, and it eventually breaks down under the pressure. 30-all. But a short, sharp point gets Mensik to 40-30. And he holds for his most comfortable service game so far.
First set: Mensik* 3-3 Zverev (*denotes next server)
Gasps as a dodgy bounce on the baseline catches Zverev unawares on the second point. But that’s as good as it gets for Mensik, who can’t make any further inroads on Zverev’s serve from 15-all. Zverev looks so calm is thinking very clearly out there; he’ll now hope he can convert all the pressure he’s had on Mensik’s serve into a break.
First set: Mensik 3-2 Zverev* (*denotes next server)
Zverev cracks another winner for 0-15, as Agassi, the 1999 champion, looks on approvingly. And Mensik coughs up his first double fault. 0-30. The Czech makes amends with an ace, and then a drop shot winner – already his seventh drop shot of the semi-final – restores parity at 30-all. Which develops into deuce, the third time Mensik has been taken this far on serve, and once again he slams the door on Zverev.
First set: Mensik* 2-2 Zverev (*denotes next server)
Pacy and punchy from Zverev on his backhand – which is one of the very best in the business – and it’s 30-0. Make that 40-0, with a textbook one-two attack. Now it’s his forehand that does the damage, as he rifles away a winner. The first love hold of this semi-final and Zverev is in the zone.
First set: Mensik 2-1 Zverev* (*denotes next server)
Zverev has been criticised in the past for playing too defensively in the biggest moments on the biggest stages, but he’s crunching the ball here and advances to 0-30 on Mensik’s serve. Mensik, with such soft hands for a man of his size, comes straight back with the next two points, and shows delicate touch at the net to bring up 40-30. For the third game in a row, they go to deuce, and Mensik’s cute drop shot brings up his advantage. And after a second deuce he holds.
First set: Mensik* 1-1 Zverev (*denotes next server)
Zverev looked slightly hesitant in the warm-up but the world No 3 shows great reflexes at the net to move 30-15 ahead. Mensik, wearing a white shirt and headband, black shorts, dumps a drop shot into the net as Zverev, clad all in black, extends his lead 40-15. But Mensik marmalises a backhand winner down the line and it’s deuce. Just as Mensik did at this stage in the previous game, Zverev steps it up, and takes the game with a nonchalant volley.
First set: Mensik 1-0 Zverev* (*denotes next server)
Talking of Mensik playing better against better players, he defeated Djokovic in three sets to win the Miami Open last year, his biggest title to date, and he also saw off Sinner in Doha this year. “I think Jakub is a player that was born for these types of matches, against big players in big stadiums,” his coach Tomas Josefus said in the build-up to this semi-final. And Mensik looks keen to prove the point as he glides to 40-15 on serve in the opening game … before stuttering as he’s pulled back to deuce … but he takes command from there, rounding things off with a dismissive volley. The 20-year-old is on the board.
Here’s the great Andre Agassi giving his thoughts: “They’re two guys with great backhands; I give them equal on the backhands. I give Zverev the advantage on serve, Mensik on the forehand. Mensik has nothing to lose and he plays better against better players. If Zverev is nervous and Mensik puts on some scoreboard pressure we may see some magic.”
Tik! Tok! Tik! Tok! They’re warming up. They’ve faced each other only once before, but it was just last month, on the clay in the Madrid last 16, with Zverev winning in three tight sets, 6-4, 6-7, 6-3, after Mensik had led by a break in the decider.
Zverev has spent four hours less on court at this French Open than Mensik, who’s played two five-setters – but Mensik has had two days off since his quarter-final win over Fonseca, he’s young and fit, so I’m not sure physicality will decide this. It’ll probably come down more to how they both handle the pressure, with Zverev, of course, sometimes struggling with self-belief in the biggest matches of his career. But, of course, he also has the freedom of knowing he’s not facing Sinner or Alcaraz.
Here they are, the 6ft 5in Mensik and 6ft 6in Zverev, giants both literally and metaphorically. Mensik arrives on court ahead of Zverev; the young Czech 26th seed will be hoping that’s a sign of things to come.
If you need to catch up on yesterday’s women’s semi-finals, Tumaini’s reports are here:
Preamble
Sinner. Alcaraz. Alcaraz. Sinner. Sinner. Alcaraz. Sinner. Alcaraz. Alcaraz … Zverev?
With Jannik Sinner evaporating in the second-round heat and Carlos Alcaraz exiting before the tournament had even started, Alexander Zverev has known for nine long days that he may never get a better chance to be the one who breaks Sincaraz’s duopoly of grand slam titles and finally make that step from the best male player to have not won a major – a label he must be absolutely sick of hearing – to slam champion.
So far Zverev has been playing with the freedom of a player who knows he doesn’t have to face his two tormentors, rather than the pressure of someone who’s expected to win. He’s dropped only one set en route to his 11th grand slam semi-final but, in truth, given the way the seeds have scattered, the 2024 runner-up hasn’t had to face a player of much note to get this far. While Jakub Mensik is raw and unproven at this stage of a slam, the 20-year-old Czech with the huge serve represents Zverev’s biggest challenge to date, having taken out Alex de Minaur and Andrey Rublev, before brilliantly neutralising the nuclear forehand of his fellow star in the making, Joao Fonseca, in the quarter-finals.
Zverev will hope all of his scars from grand slams past aren’t exposed by Mensik, who’s joined by two other semi-final debutants, Flavio Cobolli and Matteo Arnaldi, as they contest the first ever all-Italian men’s semi at a major – minus the most famous Italian of all. Arnaldi, the marathon man, has spent the most time on court in grand slam history to reach the last four, while Cobolli, a man of many superstitions, has been channelling his inner Rafa to break new ground, even using the 14-times champion’s favourite shower cubicle after every match. Sinner may be long gone, but this wildest and weirdest of French Opens could yet end with a bravissimo champion and Zverev being outshone by another Italian.
L’action commence: 14.30h à Paris/1.30pm BST. Allons-y!
