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Cobolli to face Zverev in French Open final as Arnaldi withdraws / Photo: © AFP
Cobolli to face Zverev in French Open final as Arnaldi withdraws
Flavio Cobolli will face Alexander Zverev in the French Open final after his semi-final opponent and fellow Italian Matteo Arnaldi pulled out of the tournament due to illness on Friday.
Cobolli, the 10th seed, was due to be playing in his first Grand Slam semi-final but will instead benefit from some extra rest ahead of Sunday's final.
"It's tough for me to speak also. When he came to me an hour ago I almost cried," said Cobolli of his friend Arnaldi, as they held a joint press conference while sitting three metres apart.
"I was ready to play this match and when he came I was completely sad for him, but at the same time of course I'm really happy for the result that I reached this week."
World number 104 Arnaldi had spent the most amount of time on court for a player en route to a Grand Slam semi-final, winning marathon matches in the third and fourth rounds.
His quarter-final opponent Matteo Berrettini retired injured in the second set of their last-eight tie.
But Arnaldi's dreams of a remarkable Slam title were ended by a virus.
"It's tough, because for how the tournament was, for how many hours I've been on the court, I was feeling actually very good," he said.
"To have to withdraw from the first (Grand Slam) semi-finals is not something that you wish to do anyway, and I tried to get ready and try to stay as much as I could here and try to see if I could go forward.
"But every time I get up I feel dizzy and I don't feel like the best, and I'm pretty sure if I eat again I'm not going to feel good, so that was the right decision."
Z.Sanchez--SFF
