Matteo Arnaldi has been forced to withdraw from his French Open semi-final against Flavio Cobolli on Friday due to a viral illness. 

Arnaldi was looking to become the first player ranked outside the ATP top 100 to reach the men's singles final at Roland-Garros since 1973, but was unable to compete. 

The match was due to take place on Court Philippe-Chatrier at 18:00 local time, but Arnaldi's withdrawal was announced 20 minutes before the pair were due to meet. 

Arnaldi had beaten Tallon Griekspoor, Stefanos Tsitsipas, Raphael Collignon and Frances Tiafoe on his way to the semi-finals before meeting fellow Italian Matteo Berrettini. 

Arnaldi took the first set and was 5-2 in the second before Berrettini was forced to retire with a leg injury, though the toll of Arnaldi's run to the final four has caught up with him. 

He had spent 19 hours and 42 minutes on court en route to the semi-finals in Paris, which is the longest anyone has played on their way to the last four of a major since 1991.

It means that compatriot Cobolli advances to Sunday's showpiece match, where he will take on Alexander Zverev after his 7-5 6-2 3-6 6-3 win over Jakub Mensik earlier in the day. 

Arnaldi's misfortune sees Cobolli become the third male player born since 2000 to reach a final at a grand slam event, after both Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner. 

It will be the fifth meeting between Zverev and Cobolli, and the second this year, with the German holding a 3-1 record and winning their previous match at the Madrid Open. 

But Zverev has experience on his side. The second seed at Roland-Garros is into his fourth major final, and his second at the French Open, but he has lost all three so far. 

Cobolli, meanwhile, is aiming to become the first Italian to win the French Open since Adriano Panatta in 1976.