Joao Fonseca sealed his spot in the third round at a Grand Slam tournament for the first time in his fledgling career Thursday at Roland Garros, where he earned a hard-fought straight-sets win.
The 18-year-old Brazilian battled through a pendulum-swinging contest, in which he overturned a break deficit in the opening two sets, to defeat wild card Pierre-Hugues Herbert 7-6(4), 7-6(4), 6-4. Fonseca channeled the energy from a lively crowd on Court 14, and dug deep in pressure points to secure a two-hour, 54-minute victory.
“I would say Brazilians, when they are in trouble, they find a way to manage themselves,” said Fonseca. “In important moments I just try to be brave, to be [courageous]. In the second-set tie-break, I was 3/0 down. I did some amazing shots. I think that's the difference between the good guys in the Top 50 from the Top 10: They need to be brave, they need to know how to play in important moments.”
FEEL THE FONSECA FIRE 🔥
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He storms through to the next round with a 7-6(4) 7-6(4) 6-4 win over Herbert… ⚡️#fonseca #rolandgarros #tennis pic.twitter.com/ut3IwUf3cz
Fonseca is this week up 11 spots to a career-high No. 54 in the PIF ATP Live Rankings. He has enjoyed a breakout start to the season, highlighted by winning his maiden tour-level title in Buenos Aires in February and recording his maiden Top 10 win against Andrey Rublev at the Australian Open.
By defeating 30th seed Hubert Hurkacz in his Roland Garros debut on Tuesday, Fonseca became the youngest Brazilian to win a match at the clay-court major since Thomaz Koch in 1963. He will next continue his campaign in the French capital against fifth seed Jack Draper.
The evenly matched support from the Court 14 crowd reflected Fonseca’s meteoric rise this year. The passionate cheers provided by the French fans were often drowned out by the hundreds of travelling Brazilians, who formed a sea of yellow in the stands and simultaneously rose when the 18-year-old slammed down an ace to seal the opening set.
Despite the increasing energy, replete with a mixture of chants from each set of fans, Herbert continued to remain cool. He saved three set points on serve at 4-5 in the second set, and led 3/0 in the tie-break, but Fonseca kept coming back with a series of trademark groundstrokes.
Aiming to unsettle Fonseca with the use of variety in their first Lexus ATP Head2Head clash, Herbert played with intent throughout the encounter, in which he tallied 49 winners to the Brazilian’s 34. Yet Fonseca displayed standout resilience and fighting spirit in key moments, including an ultimately decisive break for 4-3 in the third set.
Herbert is a two-time doubles champion at Roland Garros with Nicolas Mahut, with whom he will team on Thursday against fourth seeds and last year’s finalists Simone Bolelli/Andrea Vavassori.
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