Categories Sports

18-Year-Old Joao Fonseca Wins First ATP Title in Buenos Aires

18-year-old Brazilian prodigy Joao Fonseca won his first career ATP Tour title with a 6-4, 7-6(1) victory against fifth-seeded Francisco Cerundolo. At 18, he becomes the youngest Brazilian to win an ATP title in the Open Era, breaking the previous record held by Thiago Seyboth Wild, who won his first ATP title in Santiago in 2020 at 19. Fonseca is also the fourth-youngest player since 2000 to win an ATP title, behind Kei Nishikori (18 years & 1 month at 2008 Delray Beach), Rafael Nadal (18 years & 2 months at 2004 Sopot), and Carlos Alcaraz (18 years & 2 months at 2021 Umag).

Fonseca was playing in his first ATP final against hometown favorite Cerundolo. Both players traded breaks early in the first set, but Fonseca broke again to take a 4-3 lead and eventually closed out the set. The Brazilian secured another break in the second set to go up 3-2 and extended his lead to 5-3. He had two chances to serve for the match at 5-4 and 6-5, but Cerundolo saved both match points and forced a tiebreak. However, the tiebreak was one-sided, with Fonseca dominating 7-1, winning four of his seven points with clean winners.

A year ago, Fonseca was ranked No. 648 in the world. Since then, he has been on a remarkable rise, entering the tournament at No. 99 and now climbing into the top 70 with this title win.

Tags

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *