{"id":482443,"date":"2026-02-18T06:42:12","date_gmt":"2026-02-18T06:42:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/482443\/"},"modified":"2026-02-18T06:42:12","modified_gmt":"2026-02-18T06:42:12","slug":"fonseca-nets-first-win-of-2026-in-rio-baez-upset-tennis-now","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/482443\/","title":{"rendered":"Fonseca Nets First Win of 2026 in Rio, Baez Upset \u2013 Tennis Now"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Joao Fonseca is up and running in Rio, and his fans are loving it.<\/p>\n<p>The 19-year-old edged out compatriot Thiago Monteiro 7-6(1), 6-1 to set a second-round clash with Ignacio Buse of Peru, lashing 19 forehand winners and scraping through a tight opening set against the 31-year-old.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/tennisexpress.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\" noreferrer noopener nofollow\"><img loading=\"lazy\" data-lazyloaded=\"1\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"610\" height=\"150\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/Pro-Player-Gear-610X150-03.jpg\" alt=\"tennis express pro player gear\" class=\"wp-image-54451\" style=\"width:840px;height:auto\"  data-\/><\/a>tennis express pro player gear<\/p>\n<p>\u201cVery happy with the way that I stayed mentally, with the way that I stayed positive during the whole match,\u201d Fonseca said. \u201cI didn\u2019t have so many opportunities in the first set on his serve, so I needed to keep positive, and in the tiebreak just elevate my level.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAnd also in the second set, with high intensity, the early break that gave me more confidence to keep going.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Fonseca, who won his first two ATP matches in Rio in 2024 en route to the quarterfinals, had lost his previous two matches this season, after starting late due to a back injury.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s amazing, it\u2019s an honor, having my grandparents here and my friends as well, it\u2019s just huge, having my first victory of the year after a tough few months it is super special and I\u2019m very happy.\u201d<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">First win of 2026 \ud83d\udd12<\/p>\n<p>Brazil\u2019s own Joao Fonseca overcomes compatriot Monteiro 7-6 6-1 in Rio!<a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/RioOpenOficial?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">@RioOpenOficial<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/t0czgm2VrD\" rel=\"nofollow\">pic.twitter.com\/t0czgm2VrD<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&mdash; Tennis TV (@TennisTV) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/TennisTV\/status\/2023918451773894964?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">February 18, 2026<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>In other action, Sebastian Baez had his 10-match winning streak snapped by Portugal\u2019s Jaime Faria, 7-5, 6-1, while Italy\u2019s Matteo Berrettini took out MTomas Barrios Vera 7-6(1), 7-5.<\/p>\n<p>Main Draw Round of 32 ResultsFrancisco Cerundolo (1) def. Mariano Navone (6-3, 6-4)Juan Manuel Cerundolo def. Luciano Darderi (2) (6-1, 3-6, 6-4)Joao Fonseca (3) def. Thiago Monteiro (Q) (7-6(1), 6-1)Jaime Faria (LL) def. Sebastian Baez (4) (7-5, 6-1)Roman Andres Burruchaga def. Camilo Ugo Carabelli (5) (6-3, 6-4)Dusan Lajovic (LL) def. Daniel Altmaier (7) (6-4, 7-6(7))Tomas Martin Etcheverry (8) def. Francisco Comesana (3-6, 6-3, 6-4)Matteo Berrettini def. Tomas Barrios Vera (LL) (7-6(1), 7-5)Damir Dzumhur def. Pedro Martinez (0-6, 7-6(5), 6-4)Alejandro Tabilo def. Emilio Nava (6-3, 6-3)Thiago Agustin Tirante def. Cristian Garin (7-5, 6-3)Vit Kopriva def. Gustavo Heide (WC) (6-2, 7-6(5))Yannick Hanfmann def. Joao Lucas Reis Da Silva (WC) (7-6(3), 6-4)Ignacio Buse def. Igor Marcondes (Q) (4-6, 7-5, 6-4)Francesco Passaro (LL) def. Dino Prizmic (Q) (6-3, 6-4)Vilius Gaubas (Q) def. Luis Miguel (WC) (6-4, 6-3)<\/p>\n<p>Notable Round of 16 Matchups<\/p>\n<p>Francisco Cerundolo (1) vs. Thiago Agustin TiranteAlejandro Tabilo vs. Francesco PassaroJoao Fonseca (3) vs. Ignacio BuseMatteo Berrettini vs. Dusan LajovicTomas Martin Etcheverry (8) vs. Vilius GaubasDamir Dzumhur vs. Jaime FariaRoman Andres Burruchaga vs. Vit KoprivaYannick Hanfmann vs. Juan Manuel Cerundolo<script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Joao Fonseca is up and running in Rio, and his fans are loving it. The 19-year-old edged out&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":399467,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[442],"tags":[49,48,82,593],"class_list":["post-482443","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tennis","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-sports","tag-tennis"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/482443","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=482443"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/482443\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/399467"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=482443"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=482443"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=482443"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}