Joao Fonseca’s hopes of becoming the first Brazilian man to reach the last 16 at Wimbledon since 2002 have been dashed by qualifier Roman Safiullin.
The 24-seed crashed out 6-3, 6-3, 6-3, to the Russian world No.132, who has already won three five-set matches in the last eight days, with one of those being in qualifying. Fonseca, who previously defeated Roberto Bautista Agut and Jesper de Jong without dropping a set, was clearly frustrated by the high-level playing style of his opponent. So much so that he received a code violation during the opener for racket abuse after dropping serve.
“It was a tough match from the beginning,” Fonseca reflected during his press conference.
“He was putting a lot of pressure on me. He’s a guy who likes to conduct the point.
“I think I didn’t play badly. I had some opportunities during the match to let him think a bit more and play more points. But I tried to do my best.”
Fonseca’s defeat follows his recent Grand Slam breakthrough at the French Open, where he defeated Novak Djokovic en route to the quarter-finals. It is the first time he has lost to a player ranked outside the top 100 since August last year.
On a more positive note, Wimbledon is the only major where he has reached the third round twice so far in his young career.
“I think it was a great run here again (at Wimbledon),” said Fonseca.
“I’m improving on grass and that motivates me to keep going.”
Fonseca has played just 11 ATP Tour-level matches on grass so far in his career, excluding doubles. His debut was just two years ago in Halle with his win-loss record currently standing at 5-5.
“I need to improve on grass from the beginning (of the grass swing), improve on fast conditions.” He said.
“Each year I’m improving more, but there is still a lot to improve.”
Safiullin, who has been ranked as high as 36th in the world, is a former quarter-finalist at the All England Club back in 2023 on his debut. He missed six months of the Tour last season due to injury and began his comeback earlier this year by playing in eight challenger events before qualifying for the French Open main draw. Until Wimbledon, he was yet to win any Tour-level main draw matches in 2026.
“After the US Open, I had to stop playing to treat my injury. That time was super tough for me because half a year ago I didn’t know if I would be able to come back (to Wimbledon),” Safiullin said on court.
“I’m super happy to be back here.”
19-year-old Fonseca was playing in his seventh Grand Slam main draw at SW19. If he had won, he would have become the youngest man to reach the fourth round since two-time champion Carlos Alcaraz did so in 2022.
