Brazilian teen passes early test

INDIAN WELLS (AFP) — Brazilian teen sensation Joao Fonseca rallied from a break down in the third set to beat Britain’s Jacob Fearnley 6-2, 1-6, 6-3 on Thursday to reach the second round at Indian Wells.

The 18-year-old from Rio de Janeiro, who became the 10th-youngest ATP Tour champion in history when he triumphed at the Argentina Open last month, kept his cool on a blustery day in the California desert, winning the last five games to clinch the match.

“Today was pretty difficult, a lot of windy,” he said.

“But I got through. Beginning of the match I played really well and he was making some mistakes.”

“But the second set he played more aggressive and I was a bit more tight, maybe a bit more nervous.”

Fearnley, a 23-year-old who made his ATP Tour debut last year after playing five years of US collegiate tennis at Texas Christian University, appeared to have taken control when he broke Fonseca in the third game of the third set, then saved a breakpoint to hold for 3-1 in a game that went to deuce five times.

But Fonseca won the next five games, breaking Fearnley twice and closing out an entertaining contest between the 80th- and 81st-ranked players with a backhand volley winner.

“I had a breakdown and I was just focused on doing my stuff,” Fonseca said.

“I’m very happy the way that I changed my game.”

Nick Kyrgios headlines the night session in this combined ATP Masters and WTA 1000 event, where all 32 men’s and women’s seeds have first-round byes.

Kyrgios comes into his first tournament since the Australian Open hoping he has put wrist and abdominal injuries behind him, and the mercurial Aussie faces a potentially tricky encounter with lucky loser Botic van de Zandschulp — the Dutch player who toppled Carlos Alcaraz at the US Open last year.

Van de Zandschulp went on to beat Rafael Nadal in Davis Cup play in what proved to be the last match of the Spaniard’s sensational career.

The winner earns a second-round clash with Novak Djokovic, who is seeded sixth as he chases a record-setting sixth Indian Wells ATP Masters title.

Kyrgios has won two of his three meetings with 24-time Grand Slam champion Djokovic, the exception being Djokovic’s victory in the 2022 Wimbledon final.