Fonseca wins first title at Argentina Open, youngest on clay since Alcaraz

Brazilian Joao Fonseca won the Argentina Open final by beating Argentinian Francisco Cerundolo, the No 5 seed, 6-4, 7-6 (1) at the Buenos Aires Lawn Tennis Club on Sunday evening.

The victory is the 18-year-old’s maiden title on the ATP Tour, and makes him the youngest titlist on clay since Carlos Alcaraz won the Umag Open in 2021.

He also improves to No 68 in the ATP rankings, making him the new Brazilian No 1.

“Unbelievable week,” Fonseca declared after the match.

“What I’m living is just unbelievable. My real dream is to play tennis. Of course I want to be No 1 and win Slams. But my dream is just to play tennis.”

Mentally resilient Fonseca overpowers Cerundolo

Playing in his first ATP Tour-level final, Fonseca showed brilliant mental resilience to take down home favourite Cerundolo.

The Argentinian put on a solid showing, while being short of his best for the majority of the contest.

He still pushed Fonseca at times, taking advantage of the youngster’s deep position with well-timed dropshots and breaking him on three occasions across the match.

Two of the service breaks came when Fonseca was serving for the match, at 5-4 and 6-5.

Perhaps the most notable aspect of Fonseca’s victory was how he responded to adversity in these moments. After being broken in the 10th game of the second set, the Brazilian immediately broke back to serve for the title a second time.

When Cerundolo again broke Fonseca’s serve, the 18-year-old then played a sublime tiebreak, racing out to a 6-1 lead, reminiscent of his performance against Laslo Djere in the semi-finals.

“Even in Argentina there are Brazilians cheering for me. That’s amazing. Every Brazilian, everyone from their country wants this support from your own country,” he declared on-court after the match.

“I wanna thank my friends and sponsors for helping me achieve my dream. To just play tennis.”

Fonseca has a tight turnaround now, with the teen due to take on Alexandre Muller in the first round of the Rio Open in his home country of Brazil on Tuesday.

Fonseca, ranked No 99, defeated Argentinian Tomas Martin Etcheverry, the No 8 seed (6-3, 6-3), Argentinian lucky loser Federico Coria (2-6, 6-4, 6-2), Argentinian Mariano Navone (3-6, 6-4, 7-5) and Serb qualifier Laslo Djere (7-6 (3), 5-7, 6-1) ahead of his victory.

Earlier in the tournament, Cerundolo, ranked No 28, defeated Italian Luciano Darderi (6-4, 6-4), qualifier Juan Manuel Cerundolo (6-2, 6-3), German Alexander Zverev, the top seed (3-6, 6-3, 6-2) and Spaniard Pedro Martinez Portero (6-2, 6-4).

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