Fonseca makes history, becomes youngest semifinalist in Open Era

Joao Fonseca cemented his name in tennis history book on Friday, the young champ dug deep for a remarkable 3-6, 6-4, 7-5 triumph over home favourite Mariano Navone to reach his first tour-level semi-final at the IEB+ Argentina Open in Buenos Aires.

The 18-year-old Brazilian twice rallied from a break deficit in the second set, and saved two match points late in the third, before sealing an epic two-hour, 53-minute victory in front of a boisterous crowd in the Argentine capital.

“Those are the victories that we work for,” said Fonseca, who is the youngest semi-finalist on clay since Carlos Alcaraz won Umag in 2021. “I was not playing my best and I fought until the end. I’m tired… Since the beginning I was believing I could win, even if I wasn’t playing my best, but I fought and now I’m in the semi-finals. I feel amazing. It wasn’t easy against Mariano, but I’m just very happy without how I fought today.”

As the youngest Brazilian semi-finalist in the Open Era, Fonseca will face qualifier Laslo Djere, who marked his return to the Top 100 for the first time since August last year by defeating Thiago Seyboth Wild 7-6(3), 6-3 to reach his 20th ATP Tour semi-final. The Serbian, who is up to No. 98 in the PIF ATP Live Rankings, saved both of the break points he faced en route to improving to 4-1 in the pair’s Lexus ATP Head2Head series.

Seyboth Wild knocked out the Argentine defending champion Facundo Diaz Acosta in the first round and sixth seed Sebastian Baez in the second, but couldn’t halt Djere, who outfoxed the Brazilian with an impressive 98-minute performance.

“It’s been an amazing week for me so far,” said Djere. “I’m really happy with my game and of course the result. Winning five matches so far will be a huge confidence boost, so I’m extremely happy and it means a lot.”

In other quarter-final action, Francisco Cerundolo delivered a gritty performance late Friday night, keeping Argentina’s hopes of a home champion alive. The fifth seed registered a 3-6, 6-3, 6-2 victory over top seed Alexander Zverev to storm into the semi-finals at the ATP 250 event.

With the win, Cerundolo improved to 2-0 in the pair’s Lexus ATP Head2Head series. He will face Pedro Martinez in the semi-finals. Martinez advanced to the last four after Lorenzo Musetti withdrew from their quarter-final clash due to an injury.