After a shaky start to the year, João Fonseca made his first great showing in singles tournaments in 2026 by beating Belgian Raphael Collignon in the debut of the Masters 1000 in Indian Wells, California.
In the early hours of this Thursday (5), the 19-year-old Brazilian tennis player closed the match in 2 sets to 0, partial scores of 7-6 and 6-4, growing and imposing himself after a scare at the end of the first set.
Now, in the second round of the main draw, João Fonseca will have a tough rematch against the Russian Karen Khachanov, 16th in the ATP rankings, who, last October. The game date has not yet been confirmed.
How was the game
João had a solid performance against Collignon, number 77 in the ranking, whom he had already beaten in 2024, in the Davis Cup. The Brazilian even wasted some break chances in the first set.
He ended up being broken by the Belgian on the last serve, but he returned the break straight away, without showing any dejection. Confident and aggressive, the Rio native didn’t give his opponent a chance in the tie-break, ending 7-2.
In the second set, João Fonseca managed to break Collignon on his opponent’s second serve and knew how to manage the advantage, showing recovery in his basic serve, which had been hurting him throughout the season.
João Fonseca had a difficult start to the season
It is worth remembering that the Brazilian tennis jewel revealed on the eve of the Australian Open, in January, that he was born with a back problem. The condition ended up disrupting the start of the tennis player’s year.
He was easily eliminated in important singles tournaments such as the Buenos Aires Open, in which he defended his title, the Rio Open and the Australian Open itself, the first Grand Slam of the year.
At the ATP 500 in Rio, , assisted by the experienced and winner Marcelo Melo. On the eve of Indian Wells, .
