Brazilian teenager Joao Fonseca stunned top seed and 2023 runner-up Arthur Fils by winning five sets in Wednesday’s opening match of the NextGen ATP Finals.
The 18-year-old Fonseca, the youngest player in the eight-man field, made light of his modest 145th place in the world ranking by beating his 20th-ranked French opponent 3-4 (September 11), 4-2, 4-1, 1-4, 4-1 .
Fils arrived in Jeddah as the title favorite after finishing runner-up to Hamad Medjedovic in 2023 before winning two ATP Tour titles this season.
However, Fonseca defeated Fils in Rio in February for his first tour-level victory.
On Wednesday, in another Blue Group, 122nd-ranked student Tien from the United States defeated Czech number 48 Jakub Mensik 4-3 (8/6), 4-3 (7/3), 2-4, 2-4, 4- 3 (10/8).
Fonseca will face Tien in his next match on Thursday, after defeating the American in the US Open junior final last year.
“It was a good match. I knew it would be tough from the first point,” said Fonseca, who secured his first Top 20 victory.
“I also knew that the victory I had against him in Rio would be part of this match. He also knows what I’m capable of… I think I played better in important moments. I went to the ball and played aggressively, like I always do. I think that was the difference today.”
Tien secured a five-set victory by saving a match point against Mensik, who hit 20 aces in the match.
“It was hard to play against a guy who served so well,” Tien said.
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The semi-finalist of the 2023 tournament from France, Luca Van Assche, defeated Shang Juncheng from China in the red group 4-3 (7/3), 2-4, 4-1, 4-3 (7/5).
“I think the experience from last year helped me a lot today because I was already playing by these rules,” said 128th-placed Van Assche.
“For ‘Jerry,’ it was his first time, so it’s hard to prepare for playing four-game sets and all those rules.”
Shang, ranked 50th in the world, can still reach the semi-finals with American pair Alex Michelsen and Nishesh Basavareddy also in their group.
World number 41 Michelsen defeated Basavareddy in four sets in his first match.
