(January 14, 2025) Eighteen-year-old Brazilian João Fonseca upset No. 9 seed Andrey Rublev of Russia 7-6 (1), 6-3, 7-6 (5) in the first round of the Australian Open on Tuesday night in his major tournament debut. The Brazilian who is ranked 112th in the world reached the main draw as a qualifier. He is coming in on the heels of winning the Next Gen ATP Finals last month. Just two years ago he won the U.S. Open junior boys’ champion
“I mean, not bad,” said Fonseca’s in his on-court interview afterward.
“I just enjoyed every moment in this court, this amazing court,” he continued. “My first time playing in a huuuuge stadium”
“I was just focusing (on) my game, trying to put no pressure on myself, playing (against) a top-10 guy,” Fonseca said. “I was just playing my game and, well, now we’re in the second round.”
Next up, he’ll face 55th-ranked Lorenzo Sonego, who defeated three-time major champion Stan Wawrinka in four sets earlier Tuesday.
He quoted one of his idols growing up, 20-time major champion Roger Federer: “Like Roger says: ‘Talent is not enough.’ … So I put (in) a lot of hard work,” Fonseca said. “Just me and my team knows that.”
In a battle between different French generations, 38-year-old Gael Monfils defeated 21-year-old countryman, the big serving Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard seeded No. 30 in five sets – 7-6 (7), 6-3, 6-7 (6), 6-7 (5), 6-4.
Monfils said after the match “I can tell you that tomorrow morning I will be (feeling) more 48 than 38.”
“I know … I can sometimes have the double of the age of the guy. I have, yeah, I think 21 years of career, and he’s 21 years old, Giovanni,” he added. “Of course numbers are there, but I’m fighting, so I try not to put any number in my head.”
“Sometimes on the bench I say to myself, ‘He is not 38,” Mpetshi Perricard said to media. “Physically I don’t think he’s 38, but yeah, I mean, I’ll have to be better on some part to win this kind of match. I’m still young. I still can learn.”
No. 5 Daniil Medvedev squeaked out a five-set win over Kasidit Samrej 6-2, 4-6, 3-6, 6-1, 6-2, while No. 13 Holger Rune survived Zhang Zhizhen 4-6, 6-3, 6-4, 3-6, 6-4.
No. 8 Emma Navarro needed 3 hours and 20 minutes to stop countrywoman Peyton Stearns who served for the match 6-7 (5), 7-6 (5), 7-5. Raducanu said the match was: “one of the more unique matches I’ve played in a while — it was just relying a lot, I guess, on my grit and toughness and fight.”
Emma Raducanu, the 2021 U.S. Open champion, had a 7-6 (4), 7-6 (2) win over No. 26-seeded Ekaterina Alexandrova, a match that featured many breaks of serve. She had 15 double-faults, made 30 unforced errors and won just 30% of points on her second serve. But she was good enough in the big moments.
“I’m very proud of how I fought and how I overcame certain situations in that match,” Raducanu said.
