German tennis number one Alexander Zverev won his first Grand Slam title by defeating Italy’s Flavio Coboli 6-1, 4-6, 6-4, 6-7, 6-1 in the French Open final on Sunday.
The 29-year-old from Hamburg, who is currently ranked third in the world, had previously lost in the finals of the US Open (2020), French Open (2024) and Australian Open (2025) but ultimately clinched her maiden Grand Slam in Paris.
Zverev became the favorite for this year’s tournament at Roland Garros after top seed and world number one Jannik Sinner was eliminated in the second round and then world number four Novak Djokovic in the third round.
Defending champion Carlos Alcaraz withdrew from the competition due to a hand injury and Zverev took full advantage, losing only two sets of tennis in the final against tenth-seeded Koboli.
Zverev went ahead twice but Koboli responded
The German player won the first set 6-1 but trailed 4-6 in the second. They restored their lead by winning the third set 6–4 and recovered from an early service break in the fourth to take the set to a tie-break.
Zverev had won his previous 12 French Open tie breaks, but ultimately lost one when it really mattered as Koboli converted the second set point to win the fourth set 7–6 and set up a deciding set.
After a long break, Zverev took advantage of his experience of three previous Grand Slam final defeats and ensured that a fourth defeat would not follow him as he broke Koboli twice in quick succession to take a 3–0 lead in the final set.
He survived a final scare in the fourth game as he saved three Kobolli break points to hold serve at 4–0, before finally breaking serve again to win the set 6–1 and write German tennis history.
Edited by: Sam Dusan Inayatullah