Brazilian teenager Joao Fonseca comes of age on Day 6 in Paris
After another day of sizzling temperatures and red-hot tennis, we now know there will be a brand new men’s Grand Slam champion a week on Sunday.
After world No.1 Jannik Sinner lost on Thursday, 24 hours later it was the turn of 24-time major winner Novak Djokovic to exit the tournament, losing a thriller to Brazilian teenager Joao Fonseca in wild scenes on Court Philippe-Chatrier.
For the second successive match here, the 19-year-old from Rio recovered from two sets down, this time to wrap up a 4-6, 4-6, 6-3, 7-5, 7-5 victory over the Serbian great after nearly five hours on court, smacking three aces in a row to finish the job.
"I just played, I just enjoyed, and what a pleasure it was," Fonseca said afterwards.
The Brazilian had to wait until late in the day to find out who he faces next and in yet another marathon match Casper Ruud matched Fonseca’s feat in fighting back from two sets down - even saving two match points along the way for good measure - before getting the better of Tommy Paul 7-5 in the decider.
Roland-Garros 2026 is fast becoming a playground for some of the world’s best young talent and another in that category, Spain’s 19-year-old Rafael Jodar also enjoyed a memorable Friday when he won in five sets against American Alex Michelsen to reach the last 16 at a major for the first time. He next steps on court with Pablo Carreno Busta in a Spanish derby.
The favourite for the men’s title on paper at least is now world No.3 Alexander Zverev and he was largely in control against French hope Quentin Halys during a 6-4, 6-3, 5-7, 6-2 victory during the night session. Zverev has a surprise fourth round opponent in Jesper de Jong, the Dutch lucky loser who took care of No.13 seed Karen Khachanov in five sets during Friday’s warm and fast conditions.
The remaining fourth round battle in the bottom half of the men’s draw will see young Czech Jakub Mensik and Andrey Rublev go head to head, the latter aiming for what would be an 11th Grand Slam quarterfinal.
In contrast to the men’s field, the big names in the women’s draw largely continued without too much stress as Friday saw comfortable victories for top-eight seeds Iga Swiatek, Elina Svitolina and Mirra Andreeva.
Four-time champion Swiatek came through in straight-sets when she moved past fellow Pole Magda Linette to set up an intriguing meeting with Ukraine’s Marta Kostyuk - the only player yet to be beaten at tour level on clay this season.
Ukraine women are having a memorable tournament - four from the nation reached the round of 32 - and No.7 seed Svitolina dropped just five games against Tamara Korpatsch from Germany. Svitolina will go up against Swiss 11th seed Belinda Bencic on Sunday.
Andreeva is back in the second week in Paris and was another top 10 player to advance without experiencing drama, beating No.27 seed Marie Bouzkova 6-4, 6-2. Her reward is a date with Swiss Jill Teichmann who produced the shock of the day to beat No.10 seed Karolina Muchova 6-1, 7-5.
Despite announcing that she will retire this season, 36-year-old Romanian Sorana Cirstea goes from strength to strength and hammered Argentina’s Solana Sierra 6-0, 6-0 in the most eye-catching scoreline of the day. She will next run into Chinese qualifier Wang Xiyu who remarkably hasn’t dropped a single set yet in six matches all the way from the first round of qualifying at the start of Opening Week.
Over to the top halves of both draws on super Saturday and if we get half the drama we witnessed on Friday then we’re in for a treat.
One of those in action hoping to reach the second week here for the first time is young American Iva Jovic. RG’s Dan Imhoff chatted to the 18-year-old from California ahead of her meeting with Japanese star Naomi Osaka.
And Alix Ramsay went over the schedule with a fine tooth comb picking out the best matches for us to follow.
ROLAND-GARROS
18 May - 7 June 2026
