Joao Fonseca is only 18 years old, he is a great tennis talent, he has already won the ATP tournament in Buenos Aires this year and the Next Gen Finals last year. One small flaw: he still has to wait for his first match win on grass. After his first-round defeat last year, the Brazilian also lost his opening match at the 32nd TERRA WORTMANN OPEN - 7:5, 6:7 and 6:7 in a dramatic three-set thriller against the Italian Flavio Cobolli, who is ranked 24th in the world and 33 places higher than Fonseca.
Fonseca, who played only his second ever grass court match, missed out on becoming the youngest winner of a match in Halle after Zverev and Coric (2015) as a result of the defeat. Germany is a very good place for Cobolli, who is also only 23 years old. He won the ATP 500 tournament in Hamburg at the end of May and continued his ‘German’ streak in Halle, winning the TERRA WORTMANN OPEN for the first time. 2024 saw him eliminated in round one.
Auch im dritten Durchgang ging es für die starken Aufschläger wieder in den Tiebreak. Und es wurde dramatisch. Beide Akteure gaben den ein oder anderen Aufschlag ab, den ersten Matchball erspielte sich Fonseca beim Stand von 6:5. Oder besser gesagt: Cobolli machte zu viele Fehler. Das änderte sich. Der Italiener führte 7:6 und 8:7, dann rutschte Fonseca auf dem Rasen zweimal aus und ermöglichte Cobolli so beim Stand von 9:8 den dritten Matchball. Den nutzte die italienische Nummer zwei (hinter Lorenzo Musetti) zum Einzug ins Achtelfinale. Freude bei den Fans von Cobolli, die Anhänger von Fonseca werden aber in der Zukunft noch viel Spaß an ihrem Liebling haben – dann vielleicht auch auf Rasen.
The two opponents gave each other nothing in the first set. Fonseca was the slightly better player and was able to put Cobolli in a bit of trouble with his service. The Brazilian capitalised on his fourth break point to make it 6:5. The young star did not allow anything on his own serve and completed the set with a volley to make it 7:5. However, Cobolli was not fazed by the deficit in the set. At 6:5, he had the first set point and then equalised in the tie-break. The 7:3 in the deciding game was clear.
The third round also went into a tie-break for the strong servers. And it became dramatic. Both players dropped a serve or two, with Fonseca earning the first match point at 6:5. Or rather: Cobolli made too many mistakes. That changed. The Italian led 7:6 and 8:7, then Fonseca slipped twice on the grass, giving Cobolli his third match point at 9:8. The Italian number two (behind Lorenzo Musetti) capitalised on it to advance to the round of 16. Cobolli's fans were delighted, but Fonseca's supporters will have plenty more fun with their favourite in the future - perhaps on grass as well.
