Following three days of first-round action at Roland Garros, the last 64 is ready to get underway on Wednesday. The seeded players obviously don’t start going head-to-head until Friday, but there are still some intriguing showdowns on the docket. Among those taking the court are Novak Djokovic, Alexander Zverev, Iga Swiatek, and Elena Rybakina.
Here are my picks for two of Wednesday’s best matchups.
(28) Joao Fonseca vs. Dino Prizmic
Fonseca and Prizmic will be squaring off for the first time in their careers. Adding a bit of extra spice to this particular battle is that the winner is almost certain to meet Djokovic in the third round (if Djokovic defeats Valentin Royer). It would be Fonseca’s first H2H against Djokovic and Prizmic’s third, as the 20-year-old just defeated the Serb earlier this month at the Rome Masters.
That win over Djokovic is part of what has been a hot clay-court swing for Prizmic, who advanced 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 in the FO opening round. Fonseca also won in straight sets on Sunday (7-6(6), 6-4, 6-2 over Luka Pavlovic ). The 19-year-old Brazilian is up to 30th in the world, but progression has been a bit slower than anticipated. Don’t be surprised if Prizmic prevails. He is in superior form.
Pick: Prizmic in 5
Tomas Machac vs. (2) Alexander Zverev
With Carlos Alcaraz sidelined from RG, Zverev is the second favorite to lift the trophy and is favored to reach the final from a wide-open bottom half of the bracket. The world No. 3 came within a set of winning the French Open in 2024 (lost to Alcaraz), has not lost before the QFs since 2020, and has not bowed out before the fourth round since 2017. More success could be in store, as the German is 13-4 on clay in 2026 and is undefeated during this stretch against opponents not from Italy.
That being said, his round-two test may not be a walk in the park. Zverev defeated Machac in their only previous encounter 6-3, 7-5 at the 2024 Paris Olympics right here at Roland Garros. However, the Czech is dangerous every time he takes the court. The good version of Machac showed up on Sunday, when he made 6-4, 6-4, 6-3 mincemeat out of Zizou Bergs. If the same one comes onto Court Philippe Chatrier on Tuesday night, this could be a fun one.
Pick: Zverev in 5
Ricky contributes to 10sballs.com and also maintains his own tennis website, The Grandstand. You can follow him on Twitter at @Dimonator.