ATP Tour

Fonseca feeling ‘confident’ ahead of ‘huge’ Shelton showdown in Montreal

In a season that has already produced plenty of ‘big’ matchups for Joao Fonseca, the #NextGenATP star will have another opportunity on Sunday at the National Bank Open presented by Rogers, where he takes on defending champion Ben Shelton for a place in the quarter-finals.

It will be the 19-year-old Brazilian’s sixth Lexus ATP Head2Head meeting against a Top-10 player this season, having already faced Jannik Sinner, Carlos Alcaraz, Alexander Zverev, Novak Djokovic and Shelton in 2026. While Fonseca acknowledged the challenge posed by the American’s tricky lefty game, he believes his experiences this season have prepared him well for the occasion.

“Tough one, for sure,” Fonseca said when asked about the matchup. “Ben is a huge player. He likes the surface. Here, the ball is bouncing high, so his serve is going to be harder [to return] than it normally is.

“But I think this year I learned so much and had some more experience. I'm pretty confident in the match. I'm feeling good on court. So just let it roll and let's try to rest more and be ready for it Sunday.”

Fonseca has already shown that he is a ‘big-match player’, having rallied from two sets down to defeat Djokovic in a scintillating atmosphere en route to the quarter-finals at Roland Garros.

Yet Shelton, who won the only previous meeting with Fonseca in three sets in the Munich quarter-finals, is also renowned for raising his level in these types of matchups. Sunday’s clash will pit two of the brightest young talents in the sport against each other.

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The 23-year-old Shelton captured the biggest title of his career at this event last year, when it was held in Toronto, and has not dropped a set through his opening two matches in 2026. Fonseca has been equally clinical, earning straight-sets wins over Stefanos Tsitsipas and Casper Ruud en route to the fourth round.

What is Fonseca’s confidence like now?

“Pretty good,” he says. “Back playing good. I think more solid, I'll say, on court, mentally and physically. I felt good in these two huge wins in terms of experienced guys. So, for sure, I'm happy the way I fought in these two matches and excited for my next match.”

Fonseca, who is 18-12 on the season according to the Infosys ATP Win/Loss Index, is targeting his fourth quarter-final of the year after reaching that stage in Monte-Carlo, Munich and Roland Garros. So far in Montreal, he has climbed two spots to No. 25 in the PIF ATP Live Rankings, just one place away from his career high.