Roland Garros 2025: Jack Draper seals impressive win over Joao Fonseca to reach fourth round
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British No.1 Jack Draper is into the second week of Roland Garros for the first tie in his career after knocking out 18-year-old superstar Joao Fonseca in straight sets.
Draper put in a clinical performance to defeat the Brazilian 6-2, 6-4, 6-2 in hour and 47 minutes to book his place in the fourth round.
The world No.5 was a level above Fonseca in front of a packed-out Court Suzanne-Lenglen and lost just three points behind his first serve in a statement win.
“I played good, the conditions were quite difficult out here,” Draper said after the match. “The first set was really key and then I kind of got on top of him a little bit. I used my forehand well, served well and mentally it was a good performance from me.
“I’m just happy to be in the second week and hopefully there’s more to come.”
Draper didn’t have a win at Roland Garros coming into this week but has now reached the round of 16 for a third consecutive Grand Slam tournament.
His victory also means that there will be two British men in the fourth round in Paris for the first time since 1963, with Jacob Fearnley and Cam Norrie set to play later today.
“I knew it was going to be a really tough match. Joao is someone who has come onto the tour and captured the attention of everyone, the players, the fans. He’s an incredible young player and there’s so much to come from him.
“I think today it was maybe a bit of experience – I don’t think he’s played as many Grand Slams as myself – but I think he has an unbelievably bright future and he’s going to be right at the top of the game.”
He will face either the winner between Alexander Bublik and Henrique Rocha in the next round. He remains on course to play either world No.1 Jannik Sinner or Andrey Rublev in the quarter-finals.
Despite straight sets wins over Hubert Hurkacz and Pierre-Hugues Herbert in the opening two rounds, Fonseca looked shaky from the start – hitting nine unforced errors in the first three games to hand Draper an early break.
The British No.1 beat the Brazilian convincingly in their only previous meeting in Indian Wells earlier this year and Draper again seemed to have the perfect game plan to neutralise his opponents’ weapons.
During the clay court season one of the biggest developments in Draper’s game has been his ability to soak up pressure and quickly turn defence into attack. It forced Fonseca to try to win the point early and go larger on his groundstrokes, which left him with little margin for error. It ultimately led to the unforced errors creeping in again, mis-firing off huge forehands, which helped Draper break again at 3-3 in the second set as well.
Physically, Draper is a different player to the last time he played at French Open and it particularly showed in the third set.
The Briton kept his foot on the gas and while Fonseca seemed to be dealing with a slight shoulder issue, the Brazilian looked completely out of sorts.
Draper broke at the third time of asking in the opening game of the set and it was plain sailing from there.
After long and tough matches in the opening two rounds, Draper will be grateful to come through the third round quickly and can now focus on preparing for his next match on Monday.
