Who is Joao Fonseca? 18-year-old Brazilian wonderkid rides winning streak into Australian Open
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The qualifier, who reached his first grand slam main draw, faces ninth seed Andrey Rublev in the opening round. Qualifier Joao Fonseca makes his grand slam debut at the Australian Open and faces ninth seed Andrey Rublev while attempting to continue his winning streak.
![[Fonseca won the NextGen Finals in December]](https://static.independent.co.uk/2025/01/14/11/GettyImages-2191101235.jpg)
The 18-year-old Brazilian won the ATP’s NextGen Finals in December to follow in the footsteps of grand slam champions Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner. He then backed it up by winning the Challenger in Canberra at the start of the year and progressing through three rounds of qualifying at the Australian Open.
Now on a 13-match win streak, Fonseca has captured the attention in Brazil and was tipped as one to watch ahead of his grand slam debut against Rublev. The World No 112 grew up in Rio and his talent has been known for some time, winning the US Open junior title in 2023.
Fonseca, who has an explosive all-court game, also got the chance to be a hitting partner for Alcaraz and Sinner ahead of the ATP Finals in Turin. He first announced himself by making his ATP Tour debut at his home tournament in Rio as a 16-year-old wildcard, which captured the imagination in Brazil.
Fonseca was ranked outside the top 700 a year ago but reached the quarter-finals of the Rio tournament aged 17 a few months later. Fonseca then claimed the biggest title of his career at the Next Gen Finals in Saudi Arabia, triumphing against the best teengers in the world.
