Follow us on Google Discover Karen Khachanov proved to be just too much for Joao Fonseca as he knocked him out of the Paris Masters.
Khachanov won the Paris Masters in 2018, but faced a tough second round match against the in-form Fonseca.
Fonseca won the Swiss Indoors title last week, but his winning streak came to an end after being beaten by Khachanov, 6-1 1-6 6-3.
Before the tournament even got underway, Khachanov spoke about the changes he had seen in the Paris Masters this year, and now he has done the same for Fonseca after playing a match against him for the first time.
Photo by Julian Finney/Getty ImagesKaren Khachanov says what he has noticed is different about Joao Fonseca after beating him
Khachanov had never played Fonseca in an official ATP match before, but in an interview with BB Tennis he revealed that he practiced with the teenager ahead of his Australian Open semifinal in 2023.
When reflecting on his victory over Fonseca, Khachanov praised the Brazilian’s level and game style, and also spoke about how much he has changed both physically and mentally.
“He already has great potential, many people were looking for it,” said Khachanov. “But again, it seems to me that it’s not just a matter of potential, but the fact that he’s already a current player, a dangerous player who wins tournaments, who’s ranked, I don’t know, 24th (28) in the world, so he’s dangerous in general, probably because of his aggressive style of play.
“His first serve is very strong and accurate, he plays such attacking tennis, that’s why immediately got a large fan base. He’s young, plus from Brazil, after [Gustavo] Kuerten they really didn’t have this kind of player. I remember we were with him before the semifinal of the Australian Open in 2023, he was a junior then and we trained with him the day before.
“But of course this happened two years ago, a lot has changed. He has already matured, grown up and gained a lot of muscle, so there is nothing more to add. We had never played our first official match like this before, so I think it turned out to be very interesting.”
Boris Becker gives his verdict on Joao Fonseca’s level after watching him at the Paris Masters
Many big predictions have been made about Fonseca this year, having risen from outside the top 140 to inside the top 30 within the space of 10 months.
However, there are still some weaknesses that have been pointed out in Fonseca’s game that he can still improve on.
That is not something that six-time Grand Slam champion Becker was focussing on, and he could only praise Fonseca for his performance against Khachanov, despite losing the match.
Becker wrote on X (formerly known as Twitter), “Watching #fonseca in paris @RolexPMasters … it’s something else!”
Fonseca now exits the Paris Masters, with just one more tournament on his schedule for the remainder of the 2025 season.
That is the ATP 250 event in Athens, where 24-time Grand Slam champion Novak Djokovic will be the top seed.