Tsitsipas after defeating Zverev in the French Open final

The 22-year-old Greek defeated the German Alexander Zverev in five sets 6:3, 6:3, 4:6, 4:6 and 6:3 in the first semi-final in Roland Garros on Friday and will fight for his first grand on Sunday -Slam title. He goes into the race as an outsider, as he is against the world number one Novak Djokovic or the 13-time Paris champion Rafael Nadal. It is also clear that regardless of the final outcome, Tsitsipas will move past Dominic Thiem to fourth place in the new world rankings on Monday.

Zverev got off to a bad start in front of 5000 spectators on Court Philippe-Chatrier and immediately gave up his serve. Tsitsipas quickly moved ahead to 3-0 and dominated the proceedings from then on. After just 38 minutes, the Greek, who had already won the clay court tournaments in Monte Carlo and Lyon in the run-up to the French Open, took the first set - also because Zverev had already made eleven avoidable errors by then. Tsitsipas on top Overall, the German didn't seem as powerful and dynamic as in the previous rounds and moved significantly worse. It seemed like the two-day break after his quarterfinal against Spaniard Alejandro Davidovich Fokina didn't do Zverev any good. But in the second set Zverev initially improved and now took the lead with a break. It was 3-0 for the Hamburg native, but then suddenly he couldn't do anything. Tsitsipas played six games in a row and also took the second set. “If he continues to play like this, the game will be over in half an hour,” said tennis legend Boris Becker as a TV expert after losing the second set Eurosport .

Congratulated each other fairly: Stefanos Tsitsipas and Alexander Zverev © APA/afp / ANNE-CHRISTINE POUJOULAT

And Zverev struggled with himself and kept looking up at his father and coach Alexander Senior in the stands. But he didn't stop. At the beginning of the third set, the world number six managed another early break, which he was able to hold on to this time. Zverev was now significantly more emotional than in the first two sentences. When the referee overruled a decision by the linesman with the score at 5:3, Zverev argued for minutes with the referee and even the head referee. Tsitsipas is seizing the opportunity The 24-year-old has now converted his frustration into world-class tennis. A little later, Zverev took the third set and thus initiated the turnaround. He also immediately took the service from the Greek in the fourth round. The German number one now determined events in an astonishing way. Tsitsipas played no worse than in the first two sets, but Zverev now took the game to another level and equalized the set after 2:50 hours.

The momentum was now in Zverev’s favor. But then he had a small phase of weakness at the beginning of the fifth set, which Tsitsipas took advantage of for the decisive break. Zverev continued to fight and fended off four match points when the score was 2:5, but in the end it wasn't enough. While the 24-year-old left the field disappointed, Tsitsipas fought back tears during the winner's interview.

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Tsitsipas after defeating Zverev in the French Open final

Stefanos Tsitsipas secured a place in the final of the French Open for the first time in his tennis career on Friday. He did this in a dramatic way.

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