Big-serving Pole Hubert Hurkacz arrives in sneaky good form, reaching the quarters in Rome before falling foul of Novak Djokovic in an epic Geneva Open final (he will forever be immortalized in pub-quiz folklore as the man that Djokovic beat to claim his 100th ATP Tour title).
2025 ATP Tour
Grand Slam Tennis
French Open
Stade Roland Garros, Paris, France (Outdoor Clay)
Selected Round of 128 Matches- 27th May
Hubert Hurkacz (3) 1.18 vs Joao Fonesca 0.66
In any event, the big-serving Pole is suddenly on an upward trajectory after what had been an extremely difficult, injury-affected start to the campaign. He has actually trended upwards on clay for the past few seasons, claiming his maiden title on the dirt at last year’s Estoril Open. The inconsistent Pole has drawn the short straw this week, drawing dangerous Brazilian Joao Fonesca in his Paris opener. Fonesca has flattered to deceive during this European clay-court swing, going 1-3 since the start of the Madrid Open (which included a first-round defeat at the Estoril Challenger). He showed glimpses of his best form in Madrid, missing ten of eleven break-point opportunities when he went down 7-6, 7-6 to Tommy Paul. This type of inconsistency is probably to be expected from an 18-year-old. The 2024 NextGen Finals champ has enjoyed a meteoric rise this season, claiming a maiden ATP Tour title win in Buenos Aires. He just needs to curtail those unforced errors if he hopes to stand any chance of a first-round victory.
The Verdict: Hurkacz to win in four at 4.4– This will be their first career meeting. I selected Fonesca as one of my dark horse options this fortnight but I just think this represents a bad matchup for the Brazilian. Hurkacz is defensively astute and appears to be coming into some solid midseason form. Fonesca will be making his Paris debut while Hurkacz has reached the 4th round here in two of the last three seasons.
