We have reached the proverbial second week of the season’s second Grand Slam, as round four of the French Open gets underway on Sunday. On the men’s side, all three remaining Americans–Tommy Paul, Ben Shelton, and Frances Tiafoe–are taking the court. Ben Shelton has a true blockbuster battle on his hands, with Carlos Alcaraz on the other side of the net.
Here are my picks for two of Sunday’s best matchups.
(13) Ben Shelton vs. (2) Carlos Alcaraz
Alcaraz and Shelton will be squaring off for the third time in their careers. Both of their previous meetings have been won by Alcaraz, who got the job done 6-3, 7-6(3) at the 2023 Canada Masters (Toronto) and 6-4, 6-4 at the 2024 Laver Cup. A move from hard courts to clay won’t help Shelton’s cause since the red stuff is Alcaraz’s best surface. Yes, Alcaraz has won Wimbledon twice–but he is also the defending RG champ and his current clay-court swing is already highlighted by Monte-Carlo and Rome triumphs.
Shelton is more effective on faster surfaces, but he can’t be discounted on clay. The 13th-ranked American is a Houston winner (2024) and a Munich runner-up (2025). He opened in Paris with a five-set victory over Lorenzo Sonego and had plenty of time to recover because Hugo Gaston handed him a second-round walkover. The former NCAA star at Florida then clobbered Matteo Gigante 6-3, 6-3, 6-4 on Friday. There is no reason by Shelton can’t be competitive, but Alcaraz–as he did against Damir Dzumhur–should be able to raise his level when it matters most.
(8) Lorenzo Musetti vs. (10) Holger Rune
Musetti and Rune will also be going head-to-head for the third time in their careers on Sunday. Rude has won both of their previous contests; 6-4, 7-5 at the 2023 Queen’s Club tournament and 6-2, 7-6(5) at the 2024 Indian Wells Masters. Musetti figures to be a much different opponent this time around. The seventh-ranked Italian has been red hot dating back to last summer, and so far on this clay-court swing he has a runner-up effort in Monte-Carlo plus semifinal showings in Madrid and Rome. So far at the French Open he has disposed of Yannick Hanfmann, Daniel Elahi Galan, and Mariano Navone.
Rune took a more circuitous route to the last 16, as he needed five sets to get past Quentin Halys in the third round. The 22-year-old Dane has been up and down of late–he won the Barcelona title, retired from his first match at the Madrid Masters, and got upset by Corentin Moutet in the Rome Masters third round. Look for Musetti to remain red hot.
Pick: Musetti in 3
Ricky contributes to 10sballs.com and also maintains his own tennis website, The Grandstand. You can follow him on Twitter at @Dimonator.