After eliminating former world No. 1 Novak Djokovic in the 3rd round, Joao Fonseca continued to create an earthquake at the Grand Slam on clay courts. Facing top seed Casper Ruud, who has twice reached the Roland Garros final, the 20-year-old player won after nearly 4 hours of tense competition.
Fonseca defeated his opponent with a score of 7-5, 7-6, 5-7, 6-2 to write his name into the quarterfinals. This is the second consecutive time the Brazilian player has created a shock at this year's tournament.
In another notable match, young Czech talent Jakub Mensik also excellently defeated 11th seed Andrey Rublev after 5 sets. Mensik won 6-3, 7-6, 4-6, 2-6, 6-3 in a long and physical match.
This result helps the men's singles quarterfinals of Roland Garros 2026 have the participation of many promising young faces such as Joao Fonseca, Jakub Mensik and Spanish player Rafael Jodar. Notably, all former men's singles champions have been eliminated, meaning this year's tournament will definitely find a new champion.
In the women's singles, surprise also appeared when Ukrainian player Marta Kostyuk defeated former world No. 1 Iga Swiatek with a score of 7-5, 6-1. Swiatek is a person who has been crowned 4 times at Roland Garros but could not continue her journey to defend her achievement.
Swiatek's elimination makes the women's singles championship race more unpredictable. Previously, defending champion Coco Gauff also said goodbye to the tournament early.
The consecutive unexpected results show that Roland Garros 2026 is the stage of the young generation of tennis players, promising to bring many exciting developments in the remaining stage of the tournament.
