Fonseca thrills Miami crowd with late-night win over Tien

Brazilian Joao Fonseca edged out American Learner Tien 6-7 (1), 6-3, 6-4 to reach the second round of the Miami Masters at the Hard Rock Stadium on Thursday night.

It was a match that tennis fans had circled from the moment the Miami Masters draw was released: two teenagers billed as future stars of the game, both in excellent form after making their respective breakthroughs earlier in the season.

And it did not disappoint.

Both teens brought their highest level in front of a packed-out, pro-Brazil crowd in Miami, with a combined winner count of 74 across the two-hour, 23-minute clash.

“I knew it was going to be a difficult match,” Fonseca declared on-court afterwards. “I knew Learner was going to fight until the end, he’s a great fighter, he’s very smart. I just went with heart and the Brazilian crowd was with me today. Let’s go for the second round!”

Fonseca fires his way out of trouble

For the majority of the opening set, Fonseca looked like the better player. He broke first, and generated more break opportunities over the course of the set, but somehow found himself a set down after an hour’s play.

Tien simply stuck around, made Fonseca play balls, then took advantage of a five-minute lapse where the Brazilian handed him the first-set tiebreak on a silver platter, 7-1.

It was a surprising twist given how brilliant Fonseca has proven to be under pressure the past five months, however another of his promising characteristics was on show over the second and third sets.

The 18-year-old faced the adversity of having dropped a set he likely should have won by coming out all guns blazing, quickly racing out to a 4-1 lead in the second set. He closed out the set 6-3, with his forehand and first serve bailing him out of trouble.

In the deciding set, Fonseca maintained his momentum and continued to come into the net well, approaching twice as frequently as Tien.

However, towards the end of the fifth game in the third, he took a turn, asking the chair umpire for a bag to vomit into. A short break for treatment worked though, as he kept his nose in front.

Another heart-in-mouth moment came on the third-to-last point of the match, when one of Fonseca’s approaches ended in him jarring his ankle.

Again, he turned to his forehand to blast his way out of trouble, closing out the match with back-to-back points.

“I always try to be aggressive with my forehand,” Fonseca explained afterwards. “When I was younger I went to the forehand winners when the important points came, and it would go directly to the fence. Now  I’m working a bit more to be aggressive and solid at the same time. Because of the hard work, it goes to the court in the important points. I go with my forehand, where I have confidence. I’m very happy and proud of myself that I put the hard work on court.”

Fonseca, ranked No 60, will face No 19 seed Ugo Humbert next.

Miami Masters 1000, other first-round results (Hard Rock Stadium, hard, USD 9.193.540, most recent results first):

• Jakub Mensik beat Roberto Bautista Agut: 6-4, 3-6, 6-1
• Roman Safiullin beat Jenson Brooksby: 6-3, 3-6, 6-3
• Matteo Arnaldi beat Yibing Wu (WC): 7-6 (3), 4-6, 6-3
• Lorenzo Sonego beat Mariano Navone: 7-5, 7-5
• Alejandro Davidovich Fokina beat Jan-Lennard Struff: 7-6 (3), 6-3
• Gabriel Diallo (LL) beat Tomas Martin Etcheverry: 6-3, 6-0
• Jordan Thompson beat Marcos Giron: 3-6, 6-4, 7-5
• Yunchaokete Bu beat Cameron Norrie: 6-4, 6-2
• Luciano Darderi beat Pedro Martinez Portero: 6-4, 6-1
• Chak Lam Coleman Wong (WC) beat Daniel Altmaier: 6-4, 6-3
• Hugo Gaston (LL) beat Yoshihito Nishioka: 6-4, 3-1 ret.
• Reilly Opelka beat Christopher Eubanks (WC): 6-3, 7-6 (4)
• Zizou Bergs beat Nuno Borges: 7-6 (2), 7-5
• Thiago Agustin Tirante (Q) beat Flavio Cobolli: 6-1, 3-6, 6-3
• Jacob Fearnley (Q) beat Benjamin Bonzi: 7-6 (6), 2-6, 6-4
• Quentin Halys beat Thiago Seyboth Wild: 6-3, 6-4
• Eliot Spizzirri (WC) beat Billy Harris (Q): 7-6 (2), 3-6, 6-2
• Jaume Munar beat Arthur Rinderknech: 6-3, 7-6 (5)
• Alexandre Muller beat Rei Sakamoto (Q): 6-4, 6-4
• Miomir Kecmanovic beat Aleksandar Kovacevic: 6-4, 6-4
• Roberto Carballes Baena beat Christopher O’Connell (Q): 6-3, 3-6, 7-6 (5)
• Corentin Moutet beat Alexander Blockx (Q): 7-6 (5), 6-4
• Nick Kyrgios beat Mackenzie McDonald (Q): 3-6, 6-3, 6-4
• Camilo Ugo Carabelli (LL) beat Brandon Holt (Q): 2-6, 7-6 (5), 6-4
• Federico Cina (WC) beat Francisco Comesana (Q): 7-6 (4), 7-6 (2)
• Chun-Hsin Tseng (Q) beat Mattia Bellucci: 7-6 (5), 6-2
• Gael Monfils beat Fabian Marozsan: 6-3, 3-6, 6-4
• Tristan Schoolkate (Q) beat Ethan Quinn (Q): 6-0, 6-2
• Alexander Bublik beat Sebastian Baez: 6-3, 6-4
• David Goffin beat Aleksandar Vukic: 2-6, 6-4, 6-2
• Rinky Hijikata beat Hamad Medjedovic: 7-5, 3-6, 7-5