With Carlos Alcaraz absent through injury, Jannik Sinner gone early and Novak Djokovic beaten by a teenager, Roland Garros has reached its second week with no former major champion left in the men's field. Sunday's fourth round lays that wide-open bottom half of the draw bare across four matches, and at the top of the order sits the man best placed to exploit it: second seed Alexander Zverev, the most credentialed player left standing, against a Jesper de Jong chasing the upset of his life. Casper Ruud and Joao Fonseca will try to bring as much as left in their tanks after surviving epic marathons against respectively Tommy Paul and Novak Djokovic on Friday evening to clash against each other for the quarterfinal spot. Rafael Jodar meets Pablo Careno Busta in the Spanish clash between generations, while Jakub Mensik looks forward maiden career's Grand Slam quarterfinal against Andrey Rublev, just after putting an upset over Alex De Minaur.
Zverev looks to press his advantage over De Jong
Alexander Zverev arrives as the clear favorite of this quarter and the most credentialed man left in the draw, and unlike most of the survivors he has history on his side. The world No. 3, seeded second here, owns a 2-0 head-to-head over Jesper de Jong, the pair having met at this very tournament a year ago - Zverev dropped the opening set before pulling away 3-6, 6-1, 6-2, 6-3, the kind of pattern that tends to repeat when a clear talent gap meets best-of-five. He reached the second week by handling Quentin Halys in a match that finished past midnight, dominant on the balance of play despite a leaky day on serve with seven double faults; the pressure-point split said everything, Zverev defending just 17 points on his own delivery while generating 50 on return. His clay season backs the favoritism at 16-4, built on 71.6% of first-serve points won. De Jong, a lucky loser ranked outside the top 100, has produced the run of his life - he outlasted 13th seed Karen Khachanov over five sets, firing 17 aces for his third double-digit haul of the fortnight, and reached the second week of a major for the first time. If there is a crack, it is Zverev's break-point defense, where he has saved only 45.3% this year; de Jong's own 69.5% save rate and 9.5 aces per match give him a serving floor, but he will need far more than that to flip a rivalry that has so far gone one way.
Ruud and Fonseca clash in a contest of survival and momentum
Two very different paths into the second week collide when two-time finalist Casper Ruud meets Joao Fonseca in their first career meeting. Ruud got here the hard way, saving two match points and recovering from two sets down to outlast Tommy Paul across nearly five hours, a survival act that leaned on every bit of his Paris pedigree - finals in 2022 and 2023, a semifinal in 2024. The pressure-point ledger told the story of the escape: Paul generated 45 return pressure points and won only 12. Fonseca, 19, arrives lighter on his feet and heavy on confidence after his own two-set comeback, and the tactical question is whether his ball-striking can punish a body that has already logged big mileage in Paris. Ruud's case rests on clay discipline, an 16-4 win rate this season and 61.7% of break points saved, but the teenager's numbers refuse to flinch under load: he matches Ruud's serve output at 4.3 aces per match, keeps far cleaner with 1.2 double faults to Ruud's 2.3, and has actually saved break points at a higher rate (67.7%). Experience points to Ruud; freshness and form point the other way.
Mensik aims to keep his perfect record against Rublev
Jakub Mensik walks in owning Andrey Rublev. The 20-year-old Czech leads their head-to-head 2-0, most recently beating the Russian in Shanghai, and his serve has been a problem all spring - 7.4 aces per match and a flawless 4-0 record in tiebreaks this season. He reached the second week by flipping a first-set bagel into a four-set dismantling of eighth seed Alex de Minaur, the higher clay bounce finally giving him the time his forehand never got on hard courts. Rublev counters with the steadier clay credentials, an 11-4 season and pressure numbers that outstrip the Czech's: he saves 65.2% of break points to Mensik's 58.5% and carries a 61.6% serve pressure rating into the key moments. Having reached the second week again after bowing out in the round of 16 a year ago, the Russian knows the barrier in front of him. The question is whether his steadiness can finally crack a younger opponent who has never lost to him.
Experience meets firepower as Jodar faces Carreno Busta
The last of Sunday's quartet sets the breakout teenager of the clay season against a veteran refusing to fade. Rafael Jodar, 19, reached his first major second week by surviving Alex Michelsen in a four-hour, 16-minute five-setter, extending a season that already holds a Marrakech title, a Barcelona semifinal and quarterfinals in Madrid and Rome - an 18-3 record that explains the attention. Across the net, 34-year-old Pablo Carreno Busta has turned back the clock, making into second week of Grand Slam after almost four years since US Open 2022, starting the run from upset over 12th seed Jiri Lehecka. The former top-10 player brings the calmer hand in long sets, a perfect 4-0 in tiebreaks against Jodar's 3-4 despite just 6 matches played on main tour level this season on clay, and the break-point defense that has frustrated younger opponents all tournament. In a first meeting between them, it shapes up as patience against firepower.
