Zverev tears down the wall to enter Grand Slam winners' circle at French Open

PARIS, June 7 : Alexander Zverev finally shattered the barrier between himself and Grand Slam glory by grinding down a stubborn Flavio Cobolli in the French Open final on Sunday to lift his maiden major trophy at Roland Garros.

After falling in three major finals, including in Paris two years ago, Zverev capped his stellar run by outlasting Cobolli 6-1 4-6 6-4 6-7(5) 6-1 to become the first German man to capture a Slam since Boris Becker's Australian Open triumph three decades ago.

In a Paris fortnight during which Carlos Alcaraz was absent due to injury and Jannik Sinner and Novak Djokovic lost early to blow the draw wide open, the second seed embraced his new status as the favourite for the Musketeers' Cup and delivered.

"This trophy helps the belief a lot ... this year is one of the happiest moments in my career," Zverev said, joking that he would not care if he was called the worst player to win a major.

"To be honest, I'm a little bit drunk already ... I'm just happy to be sitting next to this trophy.

"Now, no matter what happens, I'll always be a Grand Slam champion, and nobody can take that away from me. Maybe that does give me some freedom. Maybe my mind will be calmer when I play a final ... even if I lose, I'll still be a Grand Slam champion.

"This trophy for me is very important, because if I'd have lost this one, the self-belief would have gone down a lot. Now that I've won it, I feel I can do it again."

SOCCER-LIKE ATMOSPHERE

With the sun shining down on Court Philippe Chatrier, Zverev broke Cobolli with a backhand shot that pinged off the Italian's orange-framed racket, and he tightened his grip further to wrap up the opening set with a forehand winner down the middle.

Cobolli fired himself up and produced stunning