Joao Fonseca had already achieved a career-first at the Canadian Open before he played Stefanos Tsitsipas in the second round. Before 2026, the young Brazilian had never made it past the first round at the Masters event. To be fair, he had only played in Canada once before.
The advantage he had entering the match against the Greek player wasn't even his own, though. The issue is that Tsitsipas simply can't seem to fix his leaky backhand. He attempts to swing away on serves, for instance, from that wing, and it is usually an exercise in futility.
That would be part of what haunted him against Fonseca in an otherwise tight match. The former ATP No. 3 was tripling the number of unforced errors that he had on his backhand to winners, and to the best of Fonseca's ability, he kept trying to expose the weakness.
Joao Fonseca defeats Stefanos Tsitsipas in the second round of the Canadian Open
In the first set, the Greek player wasn't helping himself with more double faults (four) than aces (three), but he often pressured the Brazilian on his serve. Tsitsipas, a finalist in 2018 at the Canadian Masters, had three break-point opportunities and came through once. Fonseca had just one, but he converted it.
In the tie-break to end the set, Fonseca got a mini-break early and jumped out to a 4-1 lead, and then finished off the tie-break by winning the final three points. Tsitsipas's body language was beginning to be bent toward the negative, and he complained once to the chair umpire about the levelness of the court.
In the second set, Fonseca got a break in the third game and was making his service games increasingly easier while still giving himself opportunities against Tsitsipas. The one break might have appeared to be all he needed to move into the third round, but that wouldn't be the case. Instead, while trying to serve out the match, Fonseca was somewhat stunningly broken by Tsitsipas.
In the next game, however, it was Tsitsipas who was broken, and fairly easily too. At 6-5, Fonseca wouldn't let his second chance to serve out the match go awry. He won the second set 7-5 and moved into the next round. The Brazilian finished the match with 30 winners and nine aces.
The best finish the 19-year-old (the Brazilian will turn 20 on August 21) has had at either a Masters 1000 or Grand Slam is reaching the quarterfinals at the 2026 Monte-Carlo Masters and this year's French Open. He is teetering toward a real breakthrough, and that might come at the Canadian Open.
Joao Fonseca will next play the winner of the Casper Ruud and Juan Manuel Cerundolo match in round three in Montreal. Should Fonseca get past that match, Ben Shelton could wait in the fourth round. That would certainly be must-watch tennis.
Add us as a preferred source on Google