Joao Fonseca, the 17-year-old Brazilian tennis prodigy, has continued his impressive run on the ATP Tour, reaching the quarterfinals of the Bucharest Open. Fonseca, who turned pro in February, has made the most of his wild card opportunity, defeating Radu Albot in straight sets.
Fonseca’s victory over Albot was a hard-fought battle, with the Brazilian initially trailing 0-2 before finding his footing. He battled to win the opening tiebreak and kept the momentum on his side with an immediate break. Fonseca made significantly more first serves in the second set, finishing with an inside-in forehand winner to seal the victory.
“Today was a great fight,” Fonseca said in an on-court interview. “I knew the court would be heavy because of the rain. Yesterday we started with one game (due to rain) and he started breaking me.”
“I knew he was an experienced guy. He’s double my age, so I needed to fight to the end and I’m very happy with this win,” Fonseca reflected.
With the victory, Fonseca is projected to crack the Top 250 of the rankings for the first time. He will aim to reach his maiden tour-level semifinal against fourth seed Alejandro Tabilo.
Elsewhere in the tournament, two seeds were sent packing. Marton Fucsovics knocked out second-seeded Tallon Griekspoor, while Corentin Moutet overcame seventh-seeded Nuno Borges.
With inclement weather still impacting play, the likes of No. 1 seed Francisco Cerundolo and American Sebastian Korda will be required to pull double duty Friday in order to book final-four spots.
