New breed conquers the court

Alexander Zverev

Mirra Andreeva

Alexander Zverev finally landed the Grand Slam title that threatened to elude him by overcoming Flavio Cobolli and his own nerves to win a tense French Open final in five sets.

The 29-year-old German secured his first, long-awaited major triumph with a 6-1 4-6 6-4 6-7 (5-7) 6-1 victory over 10th seed Cobolli on Sunday evening in Paris.

In the women’s final teenager Mirra Andreeva won her first Grand Slam title as Polish qualifier Maja Chwalinska was denied a fairytale French Open victory.

Andreeva, 19, fulfilled the potential she has long shown with a 6-3 6-2 victory over an opponent who was a 500-1 outsider before the tournament.

Russian eighth seed Andreeva is the youngest woman to win the Roland Garros title since Monica Seles in 1992.

After securing victory in one hour and 22 minutes, Andreeva fell to the court in elation before quickly running up to the stands for a warm embrace with her coach Conchita Martinez - herself a former major champion after winning Wimbledon in 1994.

“I’ve been watching Roland Garros since I was very young and it has always been a dream to win this trophy,” Andreeva said.

Andreeva overcame a tense start, where nerves and a swirling wind led to the final starting with four successive breaks of serve.

It was world number 114 Chwalinska who held first - much to the delight of the 15,000-strong crowd who gave her vociferous support throughout.

After losing his three previous Grand Slam finals, second seed Zverev became increasingly tight against an opponent playing in his first championship match.

That was in marked contrast to the start of the match, with Zverev racing through the first set and quickly reasserting his authority after Cobolli snatched the second.

But the stress levels increased for Zverev in a dramatic fourth set where he twice fell a break down, produced a series of costly double faults and needed electrolytes to fight off cramp.

Cobolli could not serve the fourth set out at 5-4 up and blew his first set point in the tie-break by framing a simple forehand volley, but recovered to force a decider.

Both men continued to show anxiety in a final set which veered between entertaining and excruciating to watch.

Zverev made slightly fewer errors to move a double break ahead at 3-0 and dragged himself over the line as the 24-year-old Cobolli ran out of steam.

World number three Zverev is the first man other than Jannik Sinner or Carlos Alcaraz to win a Grand Slam singles title since 2023.

The leading two players had swept the past nine majors between them, but Sinner’s early exit in Paris, and Alcaraz’s absence with injury, provided a golden opportunity for the rest of the field.

Zverev assumed the mantle as title favourite - and, despite the burden of expectation, has managed to deliver at long last.

Dealing with the occasion was also key to ultimately lifting the trophy.

Andreeva may have been the heavy favourite based on ranking and pedigree, but Chwalinska has proved to be a tricky opponent who plays with real variety.

Andreeva did not let that overwhelm her, eventually finding her rhythm and range from the baseline to overpower her increasingly frustrated opponent.

Once she moved a break ahead in the second set, her place in the illustrious list of Grand Slam champions never looked in doubt. (BBC sport)