Jakub Mensik beats Joao Fonseca to set up French Open semi with Alexander Zverev

Jakub Mensik won the next-generation battle against Joao Fonseca to set up a French Open semi-final against title favourite Alexander Zverev.

Brazilian Fonseca has lit up the tournament with his electrifying brand of power tennis, knocking out Novak Djokovic in the third round and showing that the hype that has followed him around for the last two years is fully justified.

But, aside from saving six match points in a remarkable game, the 19-year-old could not summon up the same magic here and instead it was 20-year-old Mensik who won 6-4 6-3 7-6 (3) to become the youngest Czech man ever to reach a grand slam semi-final.

That appeared hugely unlikely last Wednesday when Mensik lay on the clay racked with cramp after a gruelling victory over Mariano Navone, virtually collapsing into a wheelchair as the heat took its toll.

But he has rebounded brilliantly, recovering from losing the first set to love against Alex De Minaur and then coming through another five-setter against Andrey Rublev two days ago.

Mensik and Fonseca’s combined 39 years made this the most youthful last-eight clash here since Rafael Nadal defeated Djokovic back in 2006, and the yellow shirts dotted around Court Philippe Chatrier showed who was the fan favourite.

Three-time champion Gustavo Kuerten, the last Brazilian winner, again supported his countryman from the front row, but the closed roof amid storms in Paris favoured the flatter-hitting Czech.

Mensik lacks the flair – and forehand – of his more hyped opponent but he has been the leader of the youngest generation in both ranking and results having won a Masters 1000 title in Miami and reached a high of 12 in the world – while he was the last man to beat Jannik Sinner until this fortnight.

His game