Flavio Cobolli reaches French Open final after Arnaldi withdraws due to illness

Flavio Cobolli has made it to the final of the French Open after his semi-final opponent, fellow Italian Matteo Arnaldi, withdrew from the match due to illness on Friday.

Cobolli reached the semi-final by blowing away Canadian fourth seed Felix Auger-Aliassime 4-6, 6-4, 6-4, 6-4 on Wednesday.

Arnaldi, on Friday, told the media that he started to feel unwell last night and could not sleep at all.

"It's not what I wanted to do. Last night I started to feel unwell and then at dinner I started to feel so, so in my stomach and then I woke up at 1am and started vomiting," Arnaldi told reporters.

"I could not sleep at all. At 6-7 I vomited again and we called the doctor to the room and he gave me some stuff. But then throughout today I could not eat - every time I would eat or drink I would go back to the bathroom."

Tenth seed Flavio Cobolli, in his first Grand Slam final, will take on German second seed Alexander Zverev on Sunday.

Zverev brushed aside 26th seed Jakub Mensik 7-5, 6-2, 3‑6, 6-3 to reach the final bidding for his maiden Grand Slam title.

The 29-year-old has reached three major finals in the past, including a Roland Garros two years ago. But this time, he has looked sharp throughout the tournament in Paris.

"I knew that it would be my toughest challenge. I managed it and I won, so I'm happy," said Zverev, who became only the fifth active player to reach multiple Roland Garros title clashes.

"It's amazing the way he (Mensik) played these last two weeks, he beat so many unbelievable players. He started playing amazing in the third set, stepping up his level, but this is a Grand Slam with best-of-five-set matches.

"Things happen and your opponents will play better. You have to deal with it. I hope to play another great match on Sunday."