(Photo credit: Susan Mullane-Imagn Images)

Italians Flavio Cobolli and Matteo Arnaldi will play for a spot in the French Open final after both men reached their first Grand Slam semifinals on Wednesday in Paris.

Cobolli, the No. 10 seed, recorded a 4-6, 6-4, 6-4, 6-4 victory over fourth-seeded Felix Auger-Aliassime of Canada in their quarterfinal match while the unseeded Arnaldi advanced when another unseeded Italian, Matteo Berrettini, retired late in the second set with a left hip injury. Arnaldi owned a 7-5, 5-2 lead when Berrettini could push no further.

Cobolli and Arnaldi are close associates and won't avoid each other ahead of the biggest match of their respective careers on Friday.

'I don't know (if we will go for dinner on Thursday), but we are going to spend a lot of time together,' Arnaldi said. 'It's normal for us. We always try to train together and stay together around the tennis. It's going to be a fun one. We played last year (in the French Open's second round), and he won in four (sets). But we played many times before. Hopefully it's going to be a good match and a good fight.'

After winning his match -- before the outcome of the all-Italian quarterfinal -- Cobolli said he would stick to his routine that includes dinner with friends.

Cobolli, 24, reached the quarterfinals last year at Wimbledon and also reached the quarterfinals five weeks ago in Madrid. He has won three ATP titles.

After losing the first set, he controlled the match with Auger-Aliassime. He saved 8 of 11 break points over the course of the match and claimed an 8-7 edge in aces.

'This is the best court I have played on in my life because I can bring my best tennis,' Cobolli said of the Roland Garros surface. 'I said to myself to fight as I felt this would be the chance of my life and I have to give everything in my matches and today I did it.'

Auger-Aliassime, 25, was crushed by the setback as he once again took a disappointing loss in a major. In his previous three majors, he retired while trailing in Australian Open first-round play, lost to Jannik Sinner in the U.S. Open semifinals and fell in Wimbledon's second round.

'I'm destroyed today a little bit,' Auger-Aliassime said. 'It's tough. I usually handle losses pretty well, I have to say. My whole career, I was going back to training with optimism and positivity. Now I feel like I'm not the player I want to be, so today is a difficult day.'

Arnaldi, 25, was helped by Berrettini's erratic play prior to the injury as his countrymate committed 37 unforced errors in the abbreviated match.

After the third game of the second set, Berrettini called for a trainer to receive treatment. But in the final game, he could barely move and was grabbing the hip. When the game ended, his team was yelling at him from their box in the stands to retire.

'It was a really tough task today,' Berrenttini said. 'The more I was playing, the more I was serving, the more I was hitting forehands, the worse I was feeling. I took the medical timeout and they told me the area was sore and painful.

'I just tried but the pain was too much. I hope that I didn't do any serious damage.'

Arnaldi displayed stellar sportsmanship and consoled Berrettini right after the retirement.

'It's a tough one,' Arnaldi said. 'We both played a lot, so it's normal to not be at our best, but you never wish someone to end their tournament like this. He did an amazing tournament. We are all doing such a good job in Italy. I'm sorry for him and I hope he's going to recover, because soon is going to be the grass and he is going to be very tough to play.'

The fact that three Italians were standing so late and none were named Jannik Sinner remains startling. Sinner lost in the second round to Argentina's Juan Manuel Cerundolo.

To Arnaldi, possibly playing in the French Open final on Sunday feels surreal. He has never won an ATP title and was bounced from the first round in four of the last five Grand Slam tournaments.

'Unbelievable, to be honest,' Arnaldi said. 'I still can't believe it.'

No. 2 Alexander Zverev of Germany will face No. 26 Jakub Mensik in Friday's other semifinal.

--Field Level Media