Tennis
2026-06-02 - Jakub Mensik vs Joao Fonseca
A Sports Betting Pick by FirstDown
Tennis : French Open Quarter Final
Tuesday 2nd June 2026 - Scheduled 8:15pm
7:15pm (British Time)
Preview
In the bottom half of the Men's tournament draw, Alexander Zverev is the favourite and will be a new face holding a Grand Slam title if he does go on and win the French Open as favourite.
It is Jannik Sinner and Carlos Alcaraz who have been leading a new generation forward and made things very tough for the likes of Zverev after the 'Big Three' era, but fans have been hoping a third or fourth name will end up coming through to challenge the current top two in the World Rankings.
With that in mind, the fact that three of the four players making up the bottom half of the draw are 20 years old or younger is clearly exciting for fans of the sport and one of Jakub Mensik or Joao Fonseca are on the cusp of another big breakthrough in their careers. Both are moving closer to the top ten of the World Rankings thanks to the run they have produced at the French Open and this Quarter Final has rightly been selected for the Night Session on Day 10 of the tournament.
Throughout this Grand Slam, Jakub Mensik and Joao Fonseca have shown real character and determination to battle through adversity- after his Second Round win, Jakub Mensik had to be helped off the court after competing in brutal conditions, but he has managed to beat Alex De Minaur and Andrey Rublev since then and the World Number 27 will have taken a lot of confidence in the manner he put those wins together against two players who have been comfortable top ten Ranked players on the Tour.
At the same time, Joao Fonseca has beaten Novak Djokovic from two sets behind and he knocked off Casper Ruud in four sets in the Fourth Round, a player who has reached multiple Grand Slam Finals. The win over Djokovic is the second time Joao Fonseca has come back from 2-0 down in sets to win during this tournament and the 19 year old Brazilian has picked up plenty of confidence from his own performances.
The edge here has to be with Joao Fonseca on the numbers being produced in the run here in Paris as well as the overall clay court performances in 2026.
It feels like there is more pressure on Jakub Mensik to serve well, although the 20 year old is going to believe he has shown a bit more consistency on the return, which will give him every chance of earning another upset.
With both players being young and still building up experience of the Tour and handling the schedule, it is no surprise that Mensik and Fonseca have suffered a couple of disappointing defeats in the build up to the French Open. Those are not likely to be on the mind in this Quarter Final and there is every chance that this is going to be another match that goes pretty deep involving these two this year.
They have met once before on the Tour, but that was at the Next Gen Finals, which are played in a first to four games format to win a set- that match was played in November 2024 and both Jakub Mensik and Joao Fonseca served really well, although it should be noted that it was a match played on a hard court.
On a clay court Joao Fonseca deserves the edge, but Jakub Mensik has shown he can give as good as he gets and there should be plenty of big winners produced by both youngsters.
As long as the match goes at least four sets, there is every chance that this total games line is going to be surpassed and that is the approach to take with the expectation being Joao Fonseca will be the one to just about come out on top.
Prediction
There is so much on the line for two young players hoping to crack into the elite of Men's tennis and this Quarter Final should be an enjoyable one for the fans attending the Night Session on Day 10 of the French Open.
It feels like a match that could have swings in momentum and one that may end up surpassing this total games line.
The Pick :
Jakub Mensik 1-3 Joao Fonseca
