 Casper Rude vs. Alexander Zverev is the second semi-final for the men's French Open for 2023. And both guys were not expected to get this far. Zverev entered the tournament as the number 22 seed and would take on Harris in the first round. And after a couple of close tie breaks, Zverev would win in 3, 7-6, 7-6, 6-1. In the second round he'd take on Mulchan, and this is by far Zverev's easiest match, getting through in straights, 6-4, 6-2, 6-1. In the third round he'd take on Tiafo, who had been very impressive beating Carrots of along the way. And after dropping the first set, Zverev was forced to fight, narrowly avoiding 5 sets, getting through in 4, 3-6, 7-6, 6-1, 7-6. In the fourth round he'd take on the 28th seed Dmitrov, and again an easy win for Zverev, getting through in straights, 6-1, 6-4, 6-3 to advance to another French Open quarter-final. In the quarter-finals, Zverev would take on Etcheverry, the only unseeded in the quarter-final stage who was having a dream run on clay this year. And after dropping the second set, Zverev would have to grind out a 4-set win, 6-4, 3-6, 6-6, 6-4, to get to his third straight French Open semi-final. Roode started the tournament off as a number 4 seed, and would take on Ima in the first round. There's no problem for Roode getting through in straights, 6-4, 6-3, 6-2. In the second round he'd take on Zapiri, and after dropping the third set, Roode would get through in 4, 6-3, 6-2, 4-6, 7-5. In the third round he'd take on Zong, and after losing the first set he had to fight back to win, 4-6, 6-4, 6-1, 6-4. In the fourth round he'd take on Jarry, who had had a very good clay season so far, and had actually beaten Roode two weeks ago. But Roode got into revenge, getting through in a close straight sets, 7-6, 7-5, 7-5, to advance to the quarterfinals. In the quarterfinals, Roode would take on his old foe, Roona, the number 6 seed, the man that he beat last year, at this same stage. And again this was the same result for Roode, getting through in 4, 6-1, 6-2, 3-6, 6-3, to advance to another French Open semi-final. These two have played three times before with Zverev leading the head to head 2-1, but all their matches have been on a hard court, and Roode actually won their last match in Miami last year in a 3-set epic. If Zverev is going to win this one, he needs to serve well, and he needs to grind out the baseline like he did against Etcheverry. It's going to be a proper clay court match of course, Roode is best serve as his clay, so he's going to have to grind out those rallies and be patient with his winners. If Roode's going to win this one, he needs to be aggressive and kick the ball up like he did against Roona. Roona made so many errors though, so Roode can't expect Zverev to make as many errors, so he's going to also have to serve well and keep aggressive. This is so much fun, this matchup, because we haven't actually seen this on a clay court, and there's so many good stories here. We've got Roode going for a third slam final, we've got Zverev trying to make a slam final after what happened last year. I think Zverev might win this one in five. I reckon he's going to complete the fairytale, make this final after what happened last year in the semi-finals, hurting his ankle, but let me know down in the comments below who's going to make the French Open Final.