In a delayed game in about two hours because of the rain that fell in London on the morning of Wednesday (2), João Fonseca beat American Jenson Brooksby for 3 sets to 1 and advanced to the third round at Wimbledon Grand Slam. The partials were 6/4, 5/7, 6/2 and 6/4, in 3 hours and 14 minutes of departure.
In the next round, the 18 -year -old carioca – the youngest to advance to Wimbledon’s third round since Bernard Tomic in 2011 – faces Chilean Nicolas Jarry (143º), who came from the qualifying and defeated the second round the American Learner Tien (62).
In his first participation in the main key to the traditional grass tournament, Joao has reached the best campaign of a Brazilian tennis player in simple men in the category since 2010, when Thomaz Bellucci also reached the third round, falling at the time for Swedish Robin Soderling.
The best result of the country so far in the male key is the quarterfinals, achieved by Armando Vieira, Thomas Koch, Gustavo Kuerten and André Sá, in 1951, 1967, 1999 and 2002, respectively.
In the female, Maria Esther Bueno won three simple titles in 1959, 1960 and 1964. Bia Haddad Maia reached the round of 16 in 2023.
In the pairs, Marcelo Melo was the champion in 2017, along with the Polish łukasz Kubot.
It was the first confrontation between John, 54th in the world and the best career placement so far, and Brooksby, which is the 101st in the ranking – the US tennis player reached the 33rd post in 2022, but lost positions after suffering from injuries and a suspension at the end of 2023, for not attending anti -doping tests earlier this year.
Prior to participation in Wimbledon, the American ended the Eastbourne ATP 250, also played in the grass. He lost his decision to Taylor Fritz, four -time champion of the tournament and had also defeated the Brazilian in the second round.
In Tuesday’s game, João adopted an aggressive posture in the return and got the first break against Brooksby in the fifth game of the first set, opening 3 to 2 advantage. He still saved two break-points in the eighth game and managed the advantage to close the partial 6-4.
In the second set, the tennis players confirmed the respective services until the 12th game. Putting 6 to 5 in favor of the American to bring the definition to the Tie-Break, John saw the opponent increase the pressure in the return, ended up making some unfeigned errors and had the service broken, with Brooksby partially closing at 7 to 5.
In the third set, John returned much better and managed to break the American service twice early in the partial. He still saw the American return one of the breaks in the fourth game, but did not shake and break Brooksby’s service in the seventh game to expand the advantage and withdraw then to close the set by 6 to 2.
In the fourth, the Brazilian kept up and broke the American service again in the fifth game, opening 3 to 2 advantage in the set. In the eighth game of partial, the American reacted and hit a return on line to draw the game in 4-4. John returned the break in the next game and then saved three break-points, to close the set 6-4.
