Flavio Cobolli will contest the Roland Garros men’s final after Matteo Arnaldi withdrew ahead of the scheduled all-Italian semifinal due to a viral illness. Arnaldi’s withdrawal handed Cobolli passage to the championship match, where he will meet Alexander Zverev.

The conclusion to the semifinal is exceptionally rare in Grand Slam history. It is just the fourth time in the Open Era that a Grand Slam semifinal, on either the men’s or women’s side, has ended as a result of a walkover. The last occurrence cited the 2022 Wimbledon tournament, when Rafael Nadal withdrew ahead of his scheduled match against Nick Kyrgios.

Cobolli’s advancement comes without the on-court resolution of the semifinal pairing, an outcome that leaves the final matchup set without a contest between the two Italian players. The tournament’s move to confirm Cobolli as a finalist follows Arnaldi’s decision to withdraw because of illness, an explanation provided to tournament officials prior to the scheduled start of the match.

The development vaults Cobolli into the title match opposite Zverev and plugs a notable gap in the draw created by the late withdrawal. While walkovers at Grand Slam semifinal stage remain extremely uncommon, the circumstance places additional focus on the upcoming final and the manner in which a place in the championship has been secured.

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Jannik Sinner arrived at Roland Garros as the clear favorite and with a very public aim: to complete a Career Grand Slam. Instead he suffered one of the decade’s most surprising upsets when Juan Manuel Cerundolo toppled the 24-year-old World No. 1. The defeat not only eliminated Sinner’s bid in Paris but amplified the frustration of a missed opportunity created by the absence of Carlos Alcaraz.

Sinner’s spring clay run had been remarkable, which made the loss all the more jarring. It is also a reminder that a Career Grand Slam remains a rare and demanding feat. Until 1999, only two men in the Open Era had accomplished it: Rod Laver, in 1969, and Andre Agassi, in 1999. Roger Federer followed in 2009, and Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic completed the set soon after. Just this year Carlos Alcaraz secured the last of the four majors in Australia at age 22.

Novak Djokovic’s reaction years earlier summed up the long view players must take. He was asked if a Career Grand Slam was his next goal. “Sure. Why not?” The (then) 24-year old Serbian star replied. “It would be unbelievable to complete the [Career] Grand Slam, to win the French Open. It’s definitely an ambition, but it’s going to take time.” Djokovic would not complete his CGS until 2016, at age 29.

History shows the CGS often arrives later in careers: Rod Laver was 30 when he secured his set; Agassi was closing on that age in 1999. Yet the last 17 years have seen a cluster of completions, with six men achieving the mission in that span versus far fewer in the prior decades.

Paris has long been the decisive hurdle. Rafael Nadal’s dominance helped define that reality, even as changes in equipment, training, player size and strength, and court preparation have broadened who can contend on clay. Still, Roland Garros remains a stern test. For now, Sinner joins those great players who won three of the four majors but left Paris unconquered, at least this year.

Jakub Mensik announced himself in Paris with a performance that changed his standing among the sport’s rising 20-and-under contingent. The 20-year-old Czech, long discussed as an afterthought alongside peers such as Joao Fonseca, Learner Tien and Martin Landaluce, produced a masterful display to beat Fonseca in the quarterfinals at Roland Garros, 6-4, 6-4, 7-6 (3). The scoreline belies a match rich in brilliant shotmaking and relentless aggression.

Mensik will face Alexander Zverev in Friday’s semifinals in what shapes up as a matchup of two power movers who also move well. John McEnroe gave Mensik a slight edge in one area after watching him chase down Fonseca’s drop shots. “Zverev is awesome moving side to side. But he’s not quite as good moving forward as Mensik,” McEnroe said. “If Mensik plays like that [again] in the semifinals, he’s going to give Zverev a lot of trouble. The way he got up to those drop shops, and so skillful with that feel [when he gets there] … I’ll tell you, he’s gonna be a handful for the next 10 years.”

Fonseca offered a clear-eyed assessment after the loss. “His [Mensik’s] return, both first and second serve, are pretty into the court and he puts a lot of pressure on the opponent,” Fonseca said. “He missed a very small amount [number] of returns and that put me in a tough position. Today was not about me playing bad, It was [all] to his merit … He knows how to play in important moments. He’s not afraid. He has courage.”

Mensik called the match “insane,” and his composure was tested late when he failed to convert six match points before closing out the third-set tiebreak. His game is a collection of outsized weapons: an explosive serve, a rifle two-handed backhand and a heavy smash, but his movement proved decisive on the clay.

Mensik’s recent run follows a breakthrough last April in Miami when he beat Novak Djokovic in the final and rose to No. 24. He began the year with a title in Auckland, then endured an abdominal muscle pull that forced him out of the Australian Open fourth-round meeting with Djokovic. A disrupted clay buildup left him with a 3-3 record entering the clay season and a ranking around the mid-20s, but by Roland Garros he was healthy, seeded and advancing past top opponents including No. 8 seed Alex de Minaur and No. 11 Andrey Rublev on his way to the last four.