#NextGenATP Spaniard will meet second seed Zverev in QFs

Rafael Jodar was pushed to the brink on Sunday at Roland Garros, but the 19-year-old Spaniard produced another surge of resilience to overturn a two-set deficit and defeat countryman Pablo Carreno Busta in a gripping five-set battle.

The #NextGenATP standout Jodar triumphed 4-6, 4-6, 6-1, 6-2, 6-2 to preserve his perfect 3-0 record in fifth sets and reach his first Grand Slam quarter-final. In the middle of a remarkable clay-court breakthrough, Jodar now leads the Tour with 19 wins on the surface this season, according to the Infosys ATP Win/Loss Index.

“It’s difficult because he has a great backhand,” Jodar said when asked about changing direction in the cross-court rallies. “When we’re playing cross with the backhand, it’s difficult to change because he’s playing deep in the court. I tried not to rush the shots and not make a lot of unforced errors. I think that was the key in the first two sets, so I tried to change that.”

With his three-hour, 41-minute victory against Carreno Busta, Jodar becomes just the fifth man this century to reach the Roland Garros quarter-finals on debut, joining Juan Carlos Ferrero (2000), Martin Verkerk (2003), Rafael Nadal (2005), Jannik Sinner (2020) and Holger Rune (2022).

Jodar has jumped seven spots to No. 22 in the PIF ATP Live Rankings with his run in Paris so far, which includes a five-set win over Alex Michelsen in the third round. In his first major quarter-final, Jodar will face second seed Alexander Zverev.

Carreno Busta, the former World No. 10, was chasing his third Roland Garros quarter-final. The Spaniard, who was sidelined from February 2023 to May 2024 with elbow tendonitis, once again showed flashes of his best tennis, but the momentum of the contest gradually began to tilt as the match wore on.

After dropping the third set, Carreno Busta required a medical timeout to treat his right shoulder, and Jodar — sensing the opening — steadily capitalised. The 19-year-old powered through two sets to level the contest and spark serious hopes of his first win from a two-set deficit.

In the fifth set, a crucial early test came for Jodar when he battled through a 0/30 service hold in the second game, but from there the teenager tightened his grip and never looked back, surging home to complete a defining victory in his breakout clay campaign.

Jodar’s rise over the past year has been striking. He was ranked outside the world’s Top 700 this time last season, and has since rapidly established himself as one of the most compelling young forces on Tour.

In April, he lifted his maiden ATP Tour title in Marrakech and followed it with consecutive quarter-final runs in Madrid and Rome. With that form, he earned the 27th seeding at Roland Garros, where he is making only his second main-draw appearance at a major.