After ten consecutive victories and titles at the ATP Next Gen Finals and Challenger 125 in Canberra, João Fonseca is on a mission to qualify for the main draw of a Grand Slam for the first time as a professional. The qualifying rounds begin this Monday in Melbourne, and the 18-year-old Brazilian from Rio de Janeiro will have to win three matches, facing two seeded Argentine players in the process.
Currently ranked #145 in the world, Fonseca will make his qualifying debut against Federico Agustín Gómez (#137), the 29th seed in the qualifying tournament. If he advances, Fonseca will meet either Kazakh Dmitry Popko (#181) or Coleman Wong (#170) of Hong Kong. Finally, if he reached the third round, João faced the winner of a draw including the Argentinian Agustín Tirante (#117, 12th seed in qualifying), the Austrian Jurij Rodionov (#175), the Frenchman Titouan Droguet (#182) and the British Jan Choinski (#173).
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Brazil has three other players competing in the men’s qualifiers: Thiago Monteiro (#109), Felipe Meligeni (#149) and Gustavo Heide (#172), in addition to Laura Pigossi (#160) who is competing in the women’s qualifiers. ‘Australian Open. Monteiro, seeded 6th in qualifying, will make his debut against Australian Jason Kubler (#638), while Meligeni will face Frenchman Clément Chidekh (#189) as his first opponent. Heide will have to face the 10th seed in qualifying, the Serbian Laslo Djere (#115).
