João Fonseca, from Rio de Janeiro and world No. 65, debuted in great style as a professional tennis player at Roland Garros (France), the second Grand Slam of the season. On Tuesday (27), he defeated Polish player Hubert Hurkacz (ex-top 10 and current No. 28) 3 sets to 0 (6/2 6/4 6/2), after 1h40min of play. With today’s triumph, the 18-year-old became the youngest Brazilian to win a match on the Parisian clay.
In the second round, Fonseca will face host Pierre-Hugues Hebert (No. 147), aged 34. The match, scheduled for Thursday (29), is already generating excitement among tennis fans, who are eagerly awaiting the outcome.
The victory at Roland Garros is a testament to João Fonseca’s resilience, marking the end of a series of recent setbacks for the Rio native. In April, he was eliminated in the second round of the Madrid Masters 1000 in Spain, and then lost in the opening round of the Estoril Challenger in Portugal. This month, he was defeated in the second round of the Rome Masters 1000 in Italy. However, he bounced back with an impressive victory in Paris.
Fonseca opened the season by winning three consecutive titles: Challenger 125 in Canberra (Australia), in January; Challenger 175 in Phoenix (United States), in March; and the ATP 250, a prestigious tournament in Buenos Aires (Argentina), the most important of the young tennis player’s professional career.
Bia Haddad Falls in Singles Debut
Beatriz Haddad Maia, from São Paulo, world No. 23, lost the first set 4/6 in her debut against American Hailey Baptiste (No. 70 in the ranking), but then the opponent came back to win 2 sets to 1 (4/6 6/3 6/1), eliminating Bia from the singles draw, after 2h17min of play.
While Beatriz Haddad Maia was eliminated on the comeback in her first singles match at Roland Garros, the 29-year-old from São Paulo had a different outcome in her first match. The Brazilian returned to the court on Wednesday (28) for the first round of women’s doubles. Alongside German Laura Siegemund, they advanced to the second round 2 sets to 0 against French players Leolia Jeanjean and Jessika Ponchet. This performance filled Brazilian fans with pride. Their next opponents will emerge from the clash between Japanese Shuko Aoyama and Moyuka Uchijima, and Russian Polina Kudermetova and Turkish Zeynep Sonmez.
Also on Wednesday, in doubles, Luisa Stefani and Hungarian Timea Babos debuted with a win on the Parisian clay. Like the partnership featuring her compatriot, 27-year-old Stefani and her partner, who form the ninth-best doubles team in the world, also delivered a ‘bagel’, a tennis term for a set won without conceding games. They achieved a bagel in the first set, while in the second, Chinese Yifan Xu and Ukrainian Anhelina Kalinina managed to win just one game. In less than 50 minutes, they, who won the WTA 500 in Strasbourg last Saturday, secured their spot in the next round, where they will face Czech Anastasia Detiuc and Ukrainian Yuliia Starodubtseva.
Another Brazilian doubles team, ranked 20th by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP), Rafael Matos and Marcelo Melo, known for their strong doubles performances, were eliminated 2 sets to 0 by Monegasque Romain Arneodo and Frenchman Manuel Guinard, with scores of 3/6 and 4/6.
Source: Agência Brasil