The bottom half of the men's draw, the half no former Grand Slam champion survived, decides its semifinal places on Tuesday. With Carlos Alcaraz absent, Jannik Sinner gone early and Novak Djokovic beaten by a teenager, second seed Alexander Zverev stands as the lone established name left in it, and he meets the breakout story of the clay season in 19-year-old Rafael Jodar. The other quarterfinal is a pure next-generation collision: Jakub Mensik against Joao Fonseca, with a semifinal place and a spot in the top 20 on the line for both.
Zverev meets the season's breakout teenager in Jodar
Alexander Zverev is the one elite, proven name in this pair, into the Roland Garros quarterfinals for a sixth straight year and a finalist here in 2024, when he led Alcaraz two sets to one before falling away 6-1 6-2. He is 17-4 on clay in 2026 and reached the last eight by shaking off a 0-3 start against lucky loser Jesper de Jong to win 7-6(3) 6-4 6-1, his serve the foundation - 81% of first-serve points, four aces, two double faults. Jodar is the story of the men's fortnight. Ranked outside the top 700 a year ago and playing only Challengers, he has won a maiden title in Marrakech, reached quarterfinals in Madrid and Rome, and arrives on his Roland Garros debut having become just the sixth man since 2000 to reach the Paris quarterfinals at the first attempt, joining Ferrero, Verkerk, Nadal, Sinner and Rune. His 19 clay wins this season lead the Tour, and his route here ran through a recovery from two sets down against Pablo Carreno Busta, 4-6 4-6 6-1 6-2 6-2, in which he saved 10 of 14 break points and kept a perfect deciding-set record. The performance radar from this season on clay is closer than the seeding implies. Zverev owns the serve side - 72.2% of first-serve points to 71.0%, 58.9% of second-serve points to 55.5%, and a far cleaner first-serve accuracy at 70.2% to 63.5% - but Jodar is the better returner, winning 37.9% of first-serve return points to 34.0% and 35.4% of his return games to 31.3%. His standout number is break-point defence, where he saves 65.9% to Zverev's 45.5%, a 20-point gap that is the one figure most at odds with the favourite's billing. Break-point conversion is even at 46.0% to 46.7%, and serve holds near-identical. It is their first meeting, and Zverev himself flagged how fast his opponent has climbed.
Mensik and Fonseca collide with a semifinal and the top 20 at stake
The day's other quarterfinal sets two of the game's most touted young players against each other, with more than a semifinal on the line: the winner climbs into the top 20, Mensik returning after dropping from a career-high No. 12, Fonseca reaching it for the first time. Mensik, who beat Djokovic to win the Miami Open in 2025 and currently sits 27th, is 7-3 on clay this year and keeps an unbeaten Grand Slam record in 2026, one of only two men yet to lose at a major this season alongside the absent Alcaraz. He reached his first major quarterfinal the hard way, recovering from surrendering a two-set lead to outlast Andrey Rublev 6-3 7-6(6) 4-6 2-6 6-3, his serve the anchor with 13 aces. The serve is the engine of his game, though a risky one - he averages 12.5 aces a match on hard courts this season, a number that drops to 8.0 on the slower clay, and the same swing-for-it delivery brings 4.2 double faults a match. Fonseca has had the heaviest road of anyone left. The Brazilian, a hot prospect for two seasons and 10-6 on clay this year, opened against a player ranked outside the top 200, then survived back-to-back five-setters against Djokovic and an in-form Casper Ruud, the latter arriving in Paris straight off the Rome final and a win over Frances Tiafoe. Fonseca came through 7-5 7-6(8) 5-7 6-2, edging a contest of the finest margins after stealing the second-set tiebreak 10-8 from 2-5 down. His own delivery is cleaner if less explosive, 4.2 aces a match against just 1.1 double faults. The radar tilts his way in most departments: he holds serve more often (85.5% to 81.4%), wins far more second-serve points (58.5% to 48.4%), converts break points at a much higher rate (44.2% to 31.8%) and saves them better (68.5% to 60.3%). Mensik's clear edge is the 77.4% of first-serve points he wins to Fonseca's 71.2%, the reward for that heavy first ball, though his first-serve accuracy is the lower of the two at 57.6% to 67.2% - he wins big behind the first serve but lands it less often. Their return numbers are close on both counts. They met once, at the Next Gen Finals in December 2024 on hard court, where Fonseca won.
