Montreal, August 6: Next-gen ATP star Joao Fonseca made a stunning comeback at the Montreal Masters 2026, defeating former finalist Stefanos Tsitsipas with a score of 7-6(3), 7-5 to advance to the third round.
This was Fonseca’s first tour-level match since losing to Roman Safiullin in the third round at Wimbledon last month. Although he was on track for a straight-sets victory, he lost his serve while trying to close out the match at 5-4 in the second set.
However, the 19-year-old player secured the win by winning eight of the next nine points. With this victory, he became the first Brazilian player to reach the third round of a Canadian ATP Masters 1,000 event since Gustavo Kuerten.
Having previously defeated Tsitsipas in the Davis Cup last year, Fonseca now holds a 2-0 record against him in their ATP head-to-head series. His next match will be against either ninth seed Casper Ruud or Juan Manuel Cerundolo.
In a post-match interview, Fonseca stated, “I think the Joao from last year might have lost his cool. Now I’m a more mature Joao. I hadn’t played for a few weeks, so I knew I would be a bit more tense while serving. I felt good, played some good returns, and then put pressure on them.”
Determined to start strong after losing to qualifier Tristan Schoolkate in his opening match last year, Fonseca now boasts a 17-12 record in 2026, according to the ATP win/loss index. His notable journey included reaching the quarter-finals at Roland Garros in June, where he also defeated Novak Djokovic.
Tsitsipas, who reached the finals in Canada in 2018, is working to regain his form this season. The former world number 3 recently won his first title in 16 months at Gstaad about three weeks ago and has climbed six spots in the PIF ATP live rankings to reach number 47.
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