The 19-year-old Spaniard has been one of the stories of the tournament with his run to the quarter-finals on his debut at Roland Garros.
But he will not be emulating famous namesake Rafael Nadal by winning the title on his debut, with second seed Zverev easing to a 7-6 (7-3) 6-1 6-3 victory.
In the absence of the injured Carlos Alcaraz and with both world No.1 Jannik Sinner and 24-times grand slam winner Novak Djokovic eliminated the German will surely never have a better chance to break his grand slam duck, but he has shut down any talk of this being his title to lose.
Zverev has shown in the past a tendency to be too passive when opportunities arise, and it appeared the same thing might be happening when he trailed Jodar 5-2 in the opening set.
But, after Zverev hit back to level, it was largely one-way traffic, with the 29-year-old clinching victory after two hours and 29 minutes.
Zverev made 80 per cent of his first serves and sealed his spot in a fifth Roland Garros semi-final with a thumping forehand winner down the line.
The world No.3, who is guaranteed to face another young gun next with Joao Fonseca meeting Jakub Mensik in Tuesday's night session, said: "I feel like today was a very tough test against a very good player and I managed.
"Of course I'm happy to be in the semi-finals and, for now, that's it. I just want to keep going."
11°C