After pressing pause on his season, Joao Fonseca has commenced making waves on the ATP Tour. The 19-year-old Brazilian skipped the Asian swing but has turned up in Europe in scintillating form.
He became the first Brazilian to reach an ATP final on Saturday at the St. Jakobshalle in Basel, defeating Spain’s Jaume Munar, 7-6(4), 7-5. Fonseca, up to 24-15 on the season, is also the youngest player to reach the Basel final since Goran Ivanisevic in 1990.
“Let’s stay hyped for the final,” Fonseca said.
19-year-old Fonseca hit 27 winners in set one, 40 overall, and committed only 18 unforced errors as he scored the hard-fought victory in one hour and 55 minutes.
“I knew that it was going to be a tough match,” Fonseca said. “Jaume is playing good on this surface. He’s approaching the net very well, and putting a lot of pressure. I need to defend most of the time and I don’t like to play with those guys because I like to play aggressive and go for the winners.
“It was a mix of defense and attack during this match… I just managed to stay with my serve and take the opportunities that I had.”
There were no break points in an entertaining opening set, and just two deuce games (both on Munar’s serve) which saw Fonseca come through in a breaker. In the second set the Spaniard had a 3-1 break advantage but then lost six of the final eight games to the rising Brazilian.
“Happy that I stayed there mentally after an early break in the second set,” Fonseca said. “I’m very happy with this match [and with my] good mentality.”
Fonseca surrendered just the one break and won 85 percent of his first serve points, with eight aces. The Brazilian phenom is up to a career-high No.34 in the live rankings – he will face either Alejandro Davidovich Fokina or Ugo Humbert in the final.
42nd-ranked Munar was great as well, putting pressure on Fonseca throughout. He hit 32 winners against 22 unforced errors, and will rise to a career-high No.36 in the ATP rankings on Monday, besting his previous career-high of No.37.