Jannik Sinner arrived at Roland Garros as the form player on clay, but his run came to an abrupt end in the second round. He led Juan Manuel Cerundolo 6-3, 6-2, 5-1 before Cerundolo produced an extraordinary reversal, winning 18 of the final 20 games to complete the victory and halt Sinner’s 30-match winning streak.

Sinner had opened his tournament in a night session against Clement Tabur. Having won every clay event he entered this season, with trophies in Monte Carlo, Madrid and Rome, he was the pre-tournament favorite. The absence of defending champion Carlos Alcaraz further strengthened his bid to complete a Career Grand Slam, but the match on Court Philippe Chatrier did not follow the expected script.

Sinner attempted to cool himself down in-between changeovers. He did not reach match point when he led the contest. As the temperature and momentum shifted, Cerundolo seized control and produced the biggest win of his career to date: a maiden Top 10 victory.

The upset also reshaped the men’s draw. Novak Djokovic remains the lone former major title holder left, after Stan Wawrinka, Marin Cilic and Daniil Medvedev were all eliminated in the first round. For Sinner, the defeat represents his earliest exit at a major since he lost in the second round here three years ago to Daniel Altmaier.

Cerundolo’s run from a deep deficit was decisive and emphatic. For Sinner, a campaign that had appeared destined to press toward a grand slam breakthrough instead ended far earlier than anticipated. The match will be recalled for the sudden swing in momentum and for Cerundolo’s composed play in the closing stages.

Joao Fonseca produced the biggest match of his young career Wednesday, mounting a comeback from two sets down to defeat Dino Prizmic in a five-set, nearly three-and-a-half-hour encounter at Roland Garros. The 19-year-old, seeded No. 28, recovered after dropping the opening sets and completed a 3-6, 4-6, 6-3, 6-1, 6-2 victory against the 20-year-old Croatian.

Fonseca went without a break point opportunity until the third set, then grew in confidence and began pressuring Prizmic’s serve. He collected six return games in the final three sets en route to his first-ever triumph in a five-set match. Tears came after the final point as emotion followed the milestone.

“I think he played really good in the first two sets. It was tough for me. I was not playing good and he was just destroying me,” Fonseca said. “I changed a little bit my game. I think going for the second serve returns inside the court to put a little bit more pressure and going more aggressive, which in the beginning I was trying to be more solid.”

The win sets up Fonseca’s first meeting with Novak Djokovic in the third round. Djokovic had reached this stage following wins over Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard and Valentin Royer earlier in the week in Paris, and had been beaten by Prizmic at the Internazionali BNL d’Italia in his only other 2026 clay-court appearance.

Fonseca admitted he had longed for the possibility of facing the 24-time major champion. “I always talk to my coach, like, I want to be in Novak’s draw, because I know it’s not going to last too much. I just want to have this experience in my life,” he shared.

The match provided a vivid snapshot of a young player breaking through under pressure and the mingled relief and joy that comes with a first five-set victory at a Grand Slam.

Alexander Zverev advanced through the second round of Roland Garros with a decisive night victory over Tomas Machac, posting a straight-sets scoreline of 6-4, 6-2, 6-2.

The No. 2-seeded German secured his 550th tour-level triumph in that match, a milestone that also represented his 30th win of the 2026 season. The 29-year-old produced a composed performance on clay, taking control early and maintaining the momentum through the middle and final sets.

Zverev’s victory moves him into rarefied territory among his generation. He is the first man born since 1990—or even since 1989—to reach 550 tour-level wins, a marker of sustained success across years on the professional circuit.

The match itself was a clean display from the top seed. After a competitive opening set that ended 6-4, Zverev tightened his grip on rallies and converted chances to break in both the second and third sets, closing out the match 6-2, 6-2. The result allowed him to progress comfortably into the next round of the clay-court major.

For Machac, a former Top 20 player, the night offered limited openings as Zverev’s serving and baseline control repeatedly shifted the contest in the German’s favor. The outcome underlined Zverev’s status among the event’s leading contenders and added another entry to an already prolific career ledger.

With the 550-win milestone and his strong start to the season, Zverev will head into his upcoming matches at Roland Garros holding both form and experience. His path through the draw now continues as he looks to convert this consistency into a deeper run at the tournament.

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