Following three days of first-round motion at Roland Garros, the final 64 is able to get underway on Wednesday. The seeded gamers clearly don’t begin going head-to-head till Friday, however there are nonetheless some intriguing showdowns on the docket. Amongst these taking the courtroom are Novak Djokovic, Alexander Zverev, Iga Swiatek, and Elena Rybakina.
Listed here are my picks for 2 of Wednesday’s finest matchups.
(28) Joao Fonseca vs. Dino PrizmicFonseca and Prizmic shall be squaring off for the primary time of their careers. Including a bit of additional spice to this specific battle is that the winner is nearly sure to fulfill Djokovic within the third spherical (if Djokovic defeats Valentin Royer). It might be Fonseca’s first H2H towards Djokovic and Prizmic’s third, because the 20-year-old simply defeated the Serb earlier this month on the Rome Masters.
That win over Djokovic is a part of what has been a scorching clay-court swing for Prizmic, who superior to R3 of the Madrid Masters as a qualifier and R4 of the Rome Masters as a qualifier. The 72nd-ranked Croat maintained momentum by beating Michael Zheng 6-1, 6-1, 6-3 within the FO opening spherical. Fonseca additionally received in straight units on Sunday (7-6(6), 6-4, 6-2 over Luka Pavlovic ). The 19-year-old Brazilian is as much as thirtieth on this planet, however development has been a bit slower than anticipated. Don’t be shocked if Prizmic prevails. He’s in superior type.
Decide: Prizmic in 5
Tomas Machac vs. (2) Alexander ZverevWith Carlos Alcaraz sidelined from RG, Zverev is the second favourite to elevate the trophy and is favored to succeed in the ultimate from a wide-open backside half of the bracket. The world No. 3 got here inside a set of profitable the French Open in 2024 (misplaced to Alcaraz), has not misplaced earlier than the QFs since 2020, and has not bowed out earlier than the fourth spherical since 2017. Extra success could possibly be in retailer, because the German is 13-4 on clay in 2026 and is undefeated throughout this stretch towards opponents not from Italy.
That being mentioned, his round-two take a look at might not be a stroll within the park. Zverev defeated Machac of their solely earlier encounter 6-3, 7-5 on the 2024 Paris Olympics proper right here at Roland Garros. Nevertheless, the Czech is harmful each time he takes the courtroom. The great model of Machac confirmed up on Sunday, when he made 6-4, 6-4, 6-3 mincemeat out of Zizou Bergs. If the identical one comes onto Court docket Philippe Chatrier on Tuesday night time, this could possibly be a enjoyable one.
Decide: Zverev in 5
Ricky contributes to 10sballs.com and likewise maintains his personal tennis web site, The Grandstand. You may observe him on Twitter at @Dimonator.
