Brazilian teenager Joao Fonseca defeated American Learner Tien to become the second-youngest player to win the ATP Next Gen Finals title on Sunday in Saudi Arabia.
The 18-year-old lost the first set, returned to the competition, and then dominated the rest of the match, defeating Tien 2-4, 4-3 (8) 4-0, 4-2 in Jeddah.
Fonseca won all five matches of the tournament, starting with an upset of top seed Arthur Fils on the first day of round-robin play.
Italian Jannik Sinner, who won this year’s ATP Finals, was the only player younger than Fonseca to win the season-ending tournament.
“I was very nervous before the match. I knew it would be very difficult,” Fonseca said.
“I played in the junior final with Learner at the 2023 US Open and I know how he can play. He’s such a nice guy and a great player, so I knew it would be mentally and physically difficult. But I didn’t realize it. over.”
Fonseca hit eight aces without a double fault and was dominant on his first serve, while Tien had the advantage on winning teams but made 10 more unforced errors.
The tournament, launched in 2017, involves the eight best players under 20 years of age who are on tour in a given year.
Before the final, Fonseca said that he wanted to emulate Sinner, for whom he was the main partner during last year’s ATP Finals.
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