João Fonseca’s first experience in a Grand Slam main draw showed why there was so much attention towards him. Playing against Andrey Rublev, number 9 in the world, the Brazilian dominated the game, winning by 3 sets to 0 — 7/6(1), 6/3 and 7/6 —, and guaranteed a place in the second round of the Australian Open.
Fonseca will face the Italian Lorenzo Sonego, who beat Stan Wawrinka, earlier this Tuesday, by 3 sets to 1 (6/4, 5/7, 7/5 and 7/5).
The first set was quite balanced. It didn’t even seem like it was João’s debut in a tournament of this size. In the eighth game, the Russian had the chance to break the Brazilian, but João recovered and confirmed the serve.
The first half went to a tiebreak and the 18-year-old showed a lot of maturity. Without conceding, he made it 7-1 and secured the first set.
João broke the service in the second game and, afterwards, confirmed his, opening 3-0 in the partial. Rublev even managed to confirm his serves, but so did the Brazilian. The 18-year-old from Rio scored 6-3, making it 2 sets to 0.
The Russian only managed to break João’s serve in the third set. In the fourth game, Rublev opened 3-1. The Brazilian returned the break in the next game, staying alive in the partial. The two confirmed their serves and the set went to a tiebreak.
In the tiebreaker, João prevailed again and confirmed his first victory in the history of a Grand Slam main draw. History.
