Alexander Zverev defeated Jakub Menšík 7-5, 6-2, 3-6, 6-3 on Day 13 of the French Open, advancing to his fourth Grand Slam final in a match that became the only completed men’s semifinal on the Roland Garros 2026 schedule.
The scoreboard compressed the story: the No. 2 seed closed in four sets against the 20-year-old No. 26 seed from the Czech Republic. Menšík broke Zverev for the first time only in the third set to open a 4-2 lead and later reached three set points at 5-3, 40-0, but he was unable to convert and the match swung back to Zverev before the fourth set finished matters.
Zverev, who is third in the world, said afterward he “still felt like I was mostly in control (at the end of the third set) and that if I get back to having chances and if I use them once or twice, I will get back into the match and be the winner in the end,” a line that explained how he steadied himself after the Czech’s surge.
The match contained an unusual interruption: Menšík went off court for medical treatment early in the third set while trailing by two sets to love. He returned and produced the tournament’s sharpest moment against Zverev, earning those three set points and briefly rewriting the contest, but Zverev’s steadier level won out in the fourth.
Menšík acknowledged the gulf between a surprise run and beating a top player: “Sascha is third in the world for a reason,” he said, adding that Zverev “doesn’t allow you to be longer time in your side of the momentum” and that the German’s serve and baseline game made it “super difficult for me to attack him, and of course, as well, to find the momentum.” Those remarks underline the friction of the match — a teenager pushed a favorite to the brink, seized a window after a medical stoppage, and still could not sustain it.
For Roland Garros on Day 13 the practical effect is simple: one semifinal was played, and Zverev is through to the final. What remains open is the cause and possible consequence of Menšík’s early-third-set treatment — the stop helped him mount his comeback, but the reason for it was not specified and will shape how his run is judged going forward. Zverev moves on; the unanswered question about Menšík’s treatment is the loose end from a day when the Roland Garros 2026 schedule produced a single men’s semifinal result.
