Casper Ruud saved two match points and came back from two sets down to survive Tommy Paul in a near-five-hour marathon on Friday, escaping into a Roland Garros second week that has been blown wide open. With Carlos Alcaraz absent through injury, Jannik Sinner gone a day earlier and Novak Djokovic dispatched by 19-year-old Joao Fonseca in a four-hour, 53-minute epic, none of the men left in the fourth round has ever won a major. Ruud was second best for long stretches against Paul and needed every ounce of his big-match experience to get through, but in a draw stripped of its favorites that pedigree counts for plenty. The carnage ran all day: Jakub Mensik shook off a first-set bagel to oust eighth seed Alex de Minaur, lucky loser Jesper de Jong outlasted 13th seed Karen Khachanov, while Andrey Rublev, Pablo Carreño Busta and teenager Rafael Jodar all booked second-week places of their own.
Ruud survives Paul in a near-five-hour epic to stay on title course
Casper Ruud came back from two sets down to outlast Tommy Paul 4-6, 6-7(4), 6-4, 7-6(4), 7-5 in a four-hour, 47-minute classic, advancing to the fourth round with the top half of the draw in pieces. Paul drew first blood, breaking in the opening game, and from there the serving took over: across the next three-plus sets only one more break landed, Ruud's in the third, as both men held with ease and the second and fourth sets went to tiebreaks. The 15th seed should have been put away - serving at 4-5 in the fourth, Ruud faced two match points from 15-40 but erased both and stole the breaker. In the fifth he broke for a 3-0 lead, was pegged back, then held under heavy pressure at 5-5 before breaking Paul to love the match at 7-5. The numbers underline one of the great escapes: Paul struck 83 winners to Ruud's 51 and was the better player for long stretches, yet he converted just two of 14 break points while Ruud took all three of his. The pressure-point split was just as brutal - Paul generated 45 return pressure points and won only 12, all while facing barely any pressure on his own serve. Fresh off the Rome final, the 15th seed arrives at the second week as one of the most credentialed men left standing. Ruud was a Roland Garros finalist in 2022, when Rafael Nadal beat him for the title, and again in 2023, pushing Djokovic to three sets, before a semifinal run in 2024; only a second-round exit interrupted the sequence last year. With the draw stripped of Alcaraz, Sinner and now Djokovic, Ruud's deep-run pedigree in Paris - and across the majors generally, where among the survivors only Alexander Zverev can match it - suddenly looks like a genuine path back to a final. He next meets Joao Fonseca, the man who had just beaten Djokovic on the next court. Paul, a quarterfinalist here a year ago, was left to rue another big-match collapse.
Fonseca rallies from two sets down to stun Djokovic in an instant classic
Joao Fonseca produced the result of the tournament, recovering from two sets down to beat 24-time Grand Slam champion Novak Djokovic 4-6, 4-6, 6-3, 7-5, 7-5 in a four-hour, 53-minute epic on Court Philippe-Chatrier. The 19-year-old 28th seed became the first teenager ever to defeat Djokovic at a Grand Slam, ending a run in which the Serbian had won all 18 of his previous major meetings with teenage opponents. It was only the second time in Djokovic's career he has surrendered a two-set lead, the other also coming at Roland Garros, against Jurgen Melzer in the 2010 quarterfinals. Fonseca was five points from defeat when Djokovic served at 3-4, 15-40 in the fourth, but he saved both break points and forced a decider. Djokovic, visibly laboring physically and playing only his second tournament since March, carved out an early break for 3-1 in the fifth, yet Fonseca grew bolder as the light faded and the court slowed, finding winners into open space more freely the longer the match wore on. Serving for it at 6-5 he wobbled - a forehand into the net, a groundstroke long - and handed Djokovic a break point to force a final-set tiebreak. Fonseca answered with three consecutive aces to slam the door. The win carries the Brazilian into the fourth round of a major for the first time, where he will meet the winner of Casper Ruud and Tommy Paul. In a contest of fine margins across nearly five hours - the pair traded 70 winners to 68 and 39 unforced errors to 47 - Djokovic failed to reach the Roland Garros quarterfinals for the first time since 2009.
Mensik shakes off a first-set bagel to upset De Minaur
Jakub Mensik recovered from a brutal start to stun eighth seed Alex de Minaur 0-6, 6-2, 6-2, 6-3, reaching the fourth round at Roland Garros. The 26th seed won just five points in the opening set, then flipped the match completely, taking the next three with growing authority. The result ended an 0-5 head-to-head deficit against De Minaur, all of those previous meetings having come on hard courts where the Australian could feed flat, low balls to Mensik's forehand; the higher bounce of clay gave the 20-year-old the time and shape he needed to take control. Coming off a draining four-hour, 41-minute win over Mariano Navone in the previous round, Mensik looked anything but fresh early on, but he grew stronger as the match wore on while De Minaur unraveled, at one point smashing his racket in frustration. It is a second consecutive fourth round at a major for Mensik, who at just 20 already owns a 17-8 Grand Slam record, and continues a season in which he has shown he can dig deep over best-of-five. He next faces Andrey Rublev, an opponent he has beaten in both their previous meetings.
De Jong outlasts Khachanov in a five-set serving battle
Lucky loser Jesper de Jong claimed the biggest win of his career, edging 13th seed Karen Khachanov 7-5, 5-7, 6-2, 6-7(2), 6-2 in a match that turned into a serving showcase. The Dutchman, ranked outside the top 100, fired 17 aces to Khachanov's 15 - his third match of this Roland Garros with double-digit aces - and dominated behind his first serve, winning 81% of those points. The drama came in the fourth set, where De Jong served for the match at 5-3 but could not close it out, then earned match points on Khachanov's serve at 5-6 only to see the Russian save them and force a decider in the tiebreak. Rather than fold after squandering those chances, De Jong reset completely, breaking twice to surge to a 4-0 lead in the fifth and never looking back. The result extended a worrying pattern for Khachanov, who has shown a habit of losing five-setters to far lower-ranked opponents. It is De Jong's first fourth round at a major, a remarkable run for a player who entered the main draw only as a lucky loser and has already ended Stan Wawrinka's Roland Garros career along the way.
Rublev edges Borges in a tighter contest than the score suggests
Andrey Rublev booked his place in the second week of Roland Garros with a 7-5, 7-6, 7-6 victory over Nuno Borges, a match that proved significantly tighter than the straight-sets scoreline suggests. The Portuguese player remained competitive throughout the contest and repeatedly managed to keep pace with the No. 11 seed in individual service games, but Rublev's superior firepower consistently made the difference when the pressure peaked. After taking a narrow opening set, the Russian was forced into two tiebreaks, winning both through cleaner execution in the decisive points. The statistics reflected that fine margin. Borges actually kept the winner-to-error balance relatively close, but Rublev generated more winners overall, struck 12 aces and repeatedly found free points on serve when needed most. The Russian also converted three of his five break opportunities, compared to Borges' two from ten chances, a difference that ultimately proved decisive. Having fallen in the Round of 16 last year, Rublev returns to the second week in Paris and will now look to push beyond that barrier as the draw continues to open up.
Carreno Busta turns back the clock to reach the second week
Pablo Carreño Busta continues his unexpected Roland Garros run, defeating Thiago Tirante in four sets to book a place in the Round of 16 and remind the tennis world that experience still matters on the biggest clay-court stages. The 34-year-old Spaniard, now ranked No. 89, entered the match as the underdog on recent form against the younger and seemingly more confident Tirante, but quickly showed why he has spent years competing deep into major tournaments. While the Argentine matched him for stretches and produced a healthy winner count of his own, Carreño Busta consistently played the cleaner tennis in the key moments. The former world No. 10 was particularly effective behind his first serve, winning 71% of those points, while also creating constant pressure on return. His ability to convert break opportunities and navigate the only tiebreak of the match ultimately separated the two players in a contest that was closer than the four-set scoreline suggests. Having already produced one of the surprises of the opening rounds against Jiri Lehecka, Carreño Busta now finds himself in the second week of Roland Garros, continuing one of the most unexpected runs of the tournament.
Jodar outlasts Michelsen in another five-set test to reach the fourth round
Rafael Jodar continues to impress in his first Roland Garros main-draw appearance, surviving a demanding five-set battle against Alex Michelsen to reach the Round of 16 after 4 hours and 16 minutes. The American, who had already pushed Jannik Sinner hard in Miami earlier this season, once again proved a difficult opponent, repeatedly fighting back after falling behind. Michelsen recovered break deficits in both of the opening sets and briefly seized control of the match by taking the second and third sets, threatening to derail the Spaniard's breakthrough run. Instead, Jodar responded with the composure that has become the hallmark of his tournament. The teenager managed the momentum swings better over the long haul, gradually taking control as the match became more physical. Michelsen's task became even harder after a back issue required a medical timeout in the fourth set, and Jodar capitalized by raising his level in the closing stages. The statistics reflected the intensity of the battle. Michelsen struck more winners (71 to 50) and dominated stretches of attacking play, but Jodar proved steadier under pressure, creating more break opportunities and winning a greater share of return points on both first and second serve. It is another impressive milestone for the Spaniard, who now moves into the second week of a Grand Slam for the first time in his career.