Preview: French Open: Joao Fonseca vs. Dino Prizmic - prediction, head-to-head, tournament so far

Expect plenty of heavy-hitting tennis on Wednesday when Joao Fonseca and Dino Prizmic do battle in the second round of the French Open.

Both men progressed with straight-sets victories in their opening matches, even if Fonseca was made to sweat by French qualifier Luka Pavlovic, and the talented Brazilian will be aiming for another win to match last year’s debut performance.

Match preview

Badly out of form heading into this year’s French Open, Fonseca may have feared the worst when the opening set against Pavlovic began to go awry.

Winless on the ATP Tour for over a month since beating Arthur Rinderknech in Munich, the Brazilian sensation entered Sunday’s match on the back of three consecutive defeats to Ben Shelton, Rafael Jodar and Hamad Medjedovic in Munich, Madrid and Rome, respectively.

However, the 19-year-old took a tight first-set tie-break after playing better on the big points and closed out the next two sets en route to a 7-6(8), 6-4, 6-2 victory.

Although the match lasted two hours and 14 minutes, the outcome might have been different had the 28th seed lost the opener; however, the Brazilian overcame his nerves to reach the second round for the second year running.

Sunday’s win was only the teenager’s 11th of what has been a stop-start season in which he has struggled for consistency even on his favourite surface.

Now, the world No 30 bids to beat an in-form opponent to reach the third round, where Novak Djokovic may await the winner if the Serb beats Valentin Royer.

Progression is far from assured, particularly given the player on the other side of the net: Prizmic.

The Croatian youngster has had an intriguing clay season, making his Masters debut and getting the better of Ben Shelton and his idol Djokovic in Madrid and Rome, respectively.

Beating the GOAT at the Italian Open truly demonstrated the effervescent 20-year-old’s composure on the big points as he overcame a partisan crowd in difficult conditions to upset the 24-time Grand Slam champion.

Having begun 2026 ranked No 127 in the world, Prizmic has now risen to No 79, buoyed by a commendable clay-court run that has seen him claim 19 wins across all levels, including qualifying (19-6).

Entering Wednesday at 8-5 for the season on the clay, the 20-year-old Roland Garros debutant has nothing to fear against an out-of-form Fonseca as he seeks to earn another potential meeting with his idol.

Tournament so far

Joao Fonseca:

First round: vs. Luka Pavlovic 7-6[8] 6-4 6-2

Dino Prizmic:

First round: vs. Michael Zheng 6-1 6-1 6-3

Head To Head

Both players will be facing each other for the first time, with the winner taking a 1-0 lead in their head-to-head record.

The Brazilian teenager’s season has been undeniably mixed, as shown by the fact that he has managed consecutive wins on clay only twice: three victories in Monte-Carlo and two in Munich.

Although Prizmic shares a similar statistic, the 20-year-old holds a 6-2 record since the start of Madrid, having won only two of his previous five matches on clay.

We say: Prizmic to win in five sets

While the rankings point to a straightforward win for Fonseca, the Brazilian’s game has lacked rhythm over the past month or so since pushing Alexander Zverev to three sets in Monte-Carlo.

Prizmic not only has the momentum but also the self-belief to back himself on the big points.

We therefore back the high-energy Croat to upset his 19-year-old opponent and advance to the third round in the French capital.