Among tennisā promising talents, Joao Fonseca is making one of the fastest climbs. The 18-year-old made his Roland Garros debut on Tuesday, defeating Hubert Hurkacz in straight sets (6-2, 6-4, 6-2) and joining Carlos Alcaraz in a milestone achievement.
Fonseca is now the second-youngest match winner at the clay-court major in the past 10 years, after Alcaraz won in the first round of the tournament in 2021 with 18 years and 26 days. Fonseca is 18 years old and nine months old.
The Brazilian was simply too much for Hurkacz. The 30th seeded came fresh from reaching the final at last weekās ATP 250 event in Geneva, where he fell to Novak Djokovic in a three-hour, five-minute match.
āI played really well, focusing a lot on the returns and serves,ā said Fonseca after the match. āI knew a lot of great serves were going to come and I was just focusing on putting the first return [in], the plus one, the return plus-one, put it in the middle and try to be as aggressive as I can. Try to focus on opportunities, go to the net, and try to be aggressive when I can.ā
Joao Fonseca celebrates after beating Hubert Hurkacz (Clive Brunskill/Getty Images)
This is not the first time that the young star emulates Alcaraz, who is looking to defend his title in Paris. In Miami, Fonseca also became the youngest man to reach an ATP Masters 1000 third round since Alcaraz did it at the Paris Masters in 2021.
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He beat Alcaraz, Sinner, and Zverev but had to pause his career for nearly five months due to a mental health issue
Who is Fonsecaās next rival?
After winning his first-round match, Fonseca, who claimed his first ATP title this year in Buenos Aires, will next face French veteran Pierre-Hugues Herbert, 16 years his senior. The Brazilian is in the same quadrant as Jack Draper and Gael Monfils.
He will have an opportunity to improve his 11-7 record this season. If he wins his second-round match, he would already achieve his best result at a major, surpassing his previous second-round appearance at the Australian Open earlier this year.
