Rafael Jodar produced the comeback of the men's tournament on Sunday, recovering from two sets down to beat compatriot Pablo Carreno Busta and reach his first Grand Slam quarterfinal at just 19. The teenager's surge headlined a day that belonged to the game's youngest contenders: Jakub Mensik and Joao Fonseca both came through to set up a quarterfinal between them, while second seed Alexander Zverev shook off a sluggish start against Jesper de Jong to stand as the lone established name left in the bottom half.
Jodar rallies from two sets down to reach maiden Grand Slam quarterfinal
Staring at the exit after dropping the opening two sets, Rafael Jodar found another level to overturn the deficit and beat fellow Spaniard Pablo Carreno Busta 4-6, 4-6, 6-1, 6-2, 6-2, reaching the first Grand Slam quarterfinal of his career. The 19-year-old's turnaround after the interval was total, the contest swinging from a comfortable Carreno Busta lead to a one-way procession over the closing three sets.
The match turned on the third set. Having lost it, Carreno Busta took a medical timeout to treat his right shoulder, and Jodar pounced on the opening, powering through the next two sets to level the contest. The decisive moment of the fifth came early, when the teenager survived a 0-30 scare on serve in the second game before tightening his grip and pulling clear. His composure under pressure ran through the whole three-hour, 41-minute battle: he won 26 of 43 serve pressure points and converted 19 of 43 return pressure situations, while saving 10 of the 14 break points he faced. The win preserves a perfect 3-0 record in deciding sets.
The result places Jodar in select company. He becomes just the sixth man since 2000 to reach the Roland Garros quarterfinals on debut, joining Juan Carlos Ferrero, Martin Verkerk, Rafael Nadal, Jannik Sinner and Holger Rune. His rise has been rapid: ranked outside the top 700 a year ago, he won his maiden ATP title in Marrakech in April, followed it with quarterfinal runs in Madrid and Rome, and has since climbed to No. 22 in the live rankings. His clay form over the past 12 months reads 22-4, and his 19 wins on the surface this season lead the Tour. He now faces second seed Alexander Zverev for a place in the semifinals.
Zverev shakes off slow start to set up Jodar showdown
Alexander Zverev survived an awkward opening to beat lucky loser Jesper de Jong 7-6(3), 6-4, 6-1, reaching the Roland Garros quarterfinals for a sixth consecutive year. The world No. 3 fell behind 0-3 early on Court Philippe-Chatrier as De Jong started fast, but once the German found his rhythm the match steadily tilted his way, the gap widening with each set.
Zverev's serve was the foundation of the win. He won 81% of his first-serve points, struck four aces and committed only two double faults, never offering De Jong a route back once the first set was settled in the tiebreak. The world No. 106 had no answer to the German's pressure on return either: Zverev converted four of his seven break points and, in the key moments, won 5 of 8 serve pressure points while taking 11 of 20 return pressure situations. The two-hour, 14-minute victory underlined the clinical edge that has carried him to three Grand Slam finals, including here in Paris in 2024.
The result leaves Zverev as one of only two top-10 players left in the men's draw, alongside world No. 6 Felix Auger-Aliassime. Standing between him and a fifth Paris semifinal is Jodar, the 19-year-old he will meet for the first time. Zverev was quick to flag the danger, noting how rapidly his opponent has climbed from outside the top 100 to the edge of the top 20 in a matter of months.
Mensik outlasts Rublev to reach maiden Grand Slam quarterfinal
Jakub Mensik came through a five-set test against Andrey Rublev, recovering after surrendering a two-set lead to win 6-3, 7-6(6), 4-6, 2-6, 6-3 and reach the first Grand Slam quarterfinal of his career. The Czech looked in command after taking the opening two sets, but Rublev roared back to level the contest, forcing a decider that Mensik ultimately controlled on the back of his serve.
The fifth set turned on a single break. Mensik forced his way through in the eighth game, then served out the win, holding off two break-back points before closing the door. The serve was his anchor all afternoon, with 13 aces of his own, and the rally exchanges reflected an aggressive, high-quality contest: Mensik struck 69 winners against 65 unforced errors, while Rublev's 45 winners to 36 errors underlined that the level rarely dropped. It was a statement run for the Czech, answering long-standing questions about his game in slow conditions and over best-of-five.
The result keeps Mensik unbeaten at the Grand Slams in 2026. He carries a 17-8 career record at the majors, a strong mark for a 20-year-old, and stands as one of only two men yet to lose at a major this season. The other is Carlos Alcaraz, the Australian Open champion who has been sidelined by injury since April and did not enter Roland Garros. Mensik now awaits the winner of Joao Fonseca and Casper Ruud for a place in the last four.
Fonseca powers past Ruud to complete next-gen quarterfinal
Joao Fonseca capped a breakthrough week by beating Casper Ruud 7-5, 7-6(8), 5-7, 6-2 to reach his first Grand Slam quarterfinal, setting up a meeting with Jakub Mensik. The Brazilian was the aggressor throughout, consistently the first to threaten on the Ruud serve even when the breakthrough did not immediately come.
The opening set set the tone. Fonseca created the first opening with four break points in the fourth game and could not convert any of them, but he kept pressing and broke through in the 12th to take it 7-5. The second was the pivotal stretch. Fonseca led early before Ruud broke back, and a marathon contest swung on fine margins: Ruud held four break points in the 11th game without reward, then saved two set points in the 12th. The tiebreak was the high point of the match, Ruud racing to a 5-2 lead and holding three set points, none of which he took. Fonseca stole it 10-8 to move two sets clear. Ruud responded in the third, breaking for 7-5 after Fonseca had let chances slip in the third and fifth games, but the Brazilian regrouped to dominate the fourth from the start and close out the win.
The statistics underline how fine the contest was. Fonseca generated 44 pressure points to Ruud's 39, a marginal edge, and the pair finished with near-identical returns of 51 winners to 52 unforced errors each. Both men arrived having survived gruelling five-set wins in the previous round, Fonseca over Novak Djokovic and Ruud over Tommy Paul, each lasting close to five hours, and this four-hour battle pushed them again. Fonseca now meets Mensik in a quarterfinal between two of the game's most highly touted young talents.