Zverev breaks through to first Paris final

Zverev will play a major final for the first time since he lost the 2020 US Open final to Dominic Thiem from two sets to love up. 

“I’ve said it before and I’m going to say it again: I was not ready,” Zverev said, referring to that difficult moment in his career. “I was not ready to win my first Grand Slam title. I was not mature enough and I was maybe too much of a kid. I didn’t know what the occasion meant and that’s why I lost – I’m 27 years old now and I’m definitely not a kid anymore.” 

With Friday's triumph the German, a winner of his last 12 matches dating back to the start of his run to the Rome title last month, sets a date with Carlos Alcaraz in Sunday’s final. 

Earlier in the day, Alcaraz took out his arch-rival Jannik Sinner, 2-6, 6-3, 3-6, 6-4, 6-3, to become the youngest player to reach Grand Slam finals on all three surfaces. 

The story of the match 

The fifth career meeting between Zverev and Ruud started very much like their last. Ruud jumped out to a 3-0 lead, and after a perfectly placed drop shot a few games later, the 25-year-old Oslo native had a pair of set points, just 34 minutes into the match. 

A Zverev backhand sailed long, ending the set, but the 27-year-old changed course early in the second, breaking in the opening game and shouting “let’s go” to let his opponent know he had arrived. 

Well and truly, he had. 

Zverev ran through the second set and didn’t blink as the third commenced. Eighty-five lopsided minutes after Ruud had taken the opening set so brilliantly, Zverev now led two sets to one. 

To make matters worse, the Norwegian was wearing his fatigue and had to see the trainer about a stomach issue early in the third set. He was given pills by an on-court physician but never really seemed to regain the energy levels he had in the opening set. 

With Ruud struggling to keep his energy up, Zverev was relentless across sets two and three, dropping just seven points on serve as he moved into the driver’s seat. 

The German tapped the accelerator as the fourth began, breaking in the first game of the set and holding to love for 2-0. Ruud, running on fumes, did his best to push Zverev but the German refused to relent. 

Zverev held for 3-1 with a running forehand squash shot that sailed for a clean winner, then produced a moment of magic – an around-the-net-post backhand winner for the highlight reels – to set up a break point for 5-2. 

Moments later, double break in hand, Zverev finished his emphatic victory with his 13th consecutive service hold, wrapping up the triumph in two hours and 35 minutes.

Key stats 

Zverev reaches his first Grand Slam final since the 2020 US Open and snaps a five-match losing streak in major semi-finals. He improves to 34-8 lifetime at Roland-Garros, and 21-3 since the start of 2021 on the Parisian clay. 

With his third victory in five battles with Ruud, the Hamburg native becomes the first German man to reach the Roland-Garros final since Michael Stich in 1996. 

After a slow start, Zverev picked up steam and played menacing tennis across the final three sets to lock down one of the biggest wins of his career. 

Zverev finished the match with 19 aces and won 48 of 56 first-serve points (86 per cent). He cracked 54 winners, to just 34 from Ruud and converted five of 12 break points.

Zverev's take on things: 

On his emotions: “I can’t describe the feelings. Extremely happy, especially because I have so much history on this court. Some of the best memories and some of the worst memories happened on this court and I’m so happy to be in the final – I’m going to give it my all on Sunday.” 

Zverev on his mindset: “I knew I had to be much more aggressive and I knew that I had to take it to him. I did, I’m happy that the balls went in today.” 

On Ruud’s illness: “I thought the first two sets were very high level. The first set from him and the second set from me, and then at the end of the third set I saw that he started to move a little slower. Credit to him to play and fight until the end. He’s a great champion, a great person and definitely he is gonna be back.”