João Fonseca won his second match at the Davis Cup, this Sunday (14), in Athens, and guaranteed the classification of Brazil to the tournament qualifiers next year. The 2 sets to 1 (6/3, 3/6 and 7/5) about Stefanos Tsitsipas was the third Brazilian triumph against Greece in a better of five series. With Novak Djokovic in the stands, the duel was the most awaited of the series for involving the best tennis players in each country. Greek is the 27th number in the world and Fonseca, the 42nd.
Earlier, Rafael Matos and Marcelo Melo surpassed Aristotelis Thanos and Petros Tsitsipas for 2 sets at 0 (double 6/2) in 1 hour and 13 minutes.
On Saturday (13), João Fonseca had already won Stefanos Sakellaridis, 286th of the ranking, also 2-0 (7/5 and 6/3). By the same score, but more easily (6/2 and 6/1), Stefanos Tsitsipas sought the victory against Thiago Wild, 146, in the second match of the first day.
The Greek returned to the court needing to beat the 19 -year -old tennis player to keep his country alive in the confrontation. With good returns, Fonseca broke the Tsitsipa service in the first game of the match. He kept control of the points while pulled out and managed the advantage until the starting set at 6 to 4 was closed.
In the second partial, also balanced, the Greek got a break in the sixth game and raised the crowd by making 6 to 3 and bringing the decision to the third set.
With the crowd in favor, Tsitsipas grew up on the tiebreaker: he broke the Brazilian’s withdrawal in the fifth game and gave no point to the opponent in his services until the tenth game, when he pulled out for the game, with 5 to 4.
At this point, it was Fonseca’s turn to respond well to the pressure: it had a double lack of Greek, got good return and waited for the mistakes across the network to take advantage of the first break point and tie the decision.
The Brazilian suffered to confirm the next service, but managed to pass ahead and reach 6 to 5. In the 12th game, who felt the pressure was the owner of the house, which gave four points in a row and sent a return out to decree the Brazilian victory.
“In Brazil we often say that we Brazilians never give up and when you are playing for your country, you can not help believing. I want to thank my team for the support until the end,” said Fonseca after the end of the match.
The tennis player also talked about the tension on the court in the Greek capital. “I knew he would be nervous. He’s in Greece, with the team losing 2-1. I only played my game and I’m very happy to win that match.”
Champion of 24 Grand Slam titles, Novak Djokovic took advantage of his recent move to Greece to accompany the match of the stands.
The Serb left his country after being involved in a political crisis related to student demonstrations that accuse the government of corruption and negligence. The tennis player declared support for protests via social networks and on the courts, after victories, and was called a traitor by President Aleksandar Vucic.
Djokovic has already praised João Fonseca’s style of play and even play that he would like to tremble him when he retired.
The Brazilian team returns to the courts in February 2026 to continue in search of a place in next year’s Davis Cup finals.
