When world No.655 Joao Fonseca received a wildcard into this week’s Rio Open few expected him to go deep in the draw.
Playing in the main draw of an ATP event for only the second time in his career at the age of 17, Fonseca has beaten the odds to reach the quarter-finals. In his opening match, he eased past Arthur Fils 6-0, 6-4, to become the first player born in 2006 or later to win a match on the ATP Tour. He continued his winning run on Thursday with another impressive victory by beating Chile’s Cristian Garin 6-4, 6-4.
“I’m living a dream and I haven’t realised what I’ve achieved yet,” atptour.com quoted Fonseca as saying. “But I wanna keep dreaming, I’m really happy with my path up until now but I want more. I’m happy with the way I’ve been playing and how I grew this past year not only technically but also mentally and physically. I can’t thank my team, my family and friends enough.”
It is only fitting that Fonseca’s breakthrough happened at the Rio Open which is located 10 minutes away from where the Brazillian grew up. As a youngster he attended the tournament, watching Rafael Nadal play back in 2014. It was these experiences that motivated him to focus on playing tennis.
“I knew Cristian was an experienced guy, he knows how to face pressure and today I was a bit more tense at the start of the match. But I adapted quickly, kept focused and with the help of the crowd I managed to win.” He said of his latest win.
Fonseca has already made waves on the junior circuit. Last year he was runner-up in the doubles tournament at the Australian Open boy’s event. Then at the US Open, he won his first Grand Slam junior title in singles. He is also a former ITF Junior world No.1 and is currently ranked second in the standings.
To put the teenager’s Rio run into context, only one player younger than him has reached the last eight of an ATP 500 tournament since the series began in 2009. That was Alexander Zverev at the 2014 Hamburg Open.
Awaiting Fonseca in the quarter-finals will be Argentina’s Mariano Navone who he has previously beaten on the Challenger Tour.
“Navone is an old acquaintance, we played a challenger a few years ago and I won my second match against him,” he said. “I know it’s going to be a very tough match, he’s an Argentinian, runs a lot and hits a lot and he’s also in a great place right now.”
At this week’s Rio Open three Brazilians have reached the quarter-final stage. Besides Fonseca, Thiago Monteiro and Thiago Seyboth Wild are still in contention for winning the title.
