Challenger

Fonseca joins Del Potro in history books with Phoenix Challenger title

Joao Fonseca added another milestone in his meteoric rise Sunday. The 18-year-old won the Arizona Tennis Classic, becoming the second-youngest player from South America — behind Juan Martin del Potro — to win three ATP Challenger Tour titles.

Fonseca defeated Alexander Bublik 7-6(5), 7-6(0) in an entertaining final that featured superb shotmaking from both players at the Phoenix Country Club. The Brazilian served for the opening set at 5-4 and again at 6-5, but was forced to a tie-break, during which he raised his first-serve percentage to gain an advantage.

Fonseca and Bublik engaged in first-strike tennis, battling for court position and aiming for aggressive winners in front of a sellout crowd. The teen had two championship points on return at 5-4 in the second set, but Bublik saved them both with booming aces. The Kazakhstani wiped away Fonseca’s third championship point at 6-5, again with an ace, but the Brazilian quickly rebounded and flew through the second-set tie-break to earn a one-hour, 43-minute victory.

Title No.3 on the season 💪 🇧🇷 🏆 #ATPChallenger pic.twitter.com/EJxg0GkDbP

— ATP Challenger Tour (@ATPChallenger) March 16, 2025

“It is my third Challenger title, so just super happy with this one,” Fonseca said. “This one was really important to me after losing to [Jack] Draper last week. Having a good run at this Challenger, a 175, but it could be like an ATP 250 by the ranking of the players, easily. It was super, super hard.”

Fonseca joins Del Potro and Guillermo Coria as the only South American-born players to win a trio of Challenger titles aged 18 and under. He is also among elite company as the fifth-youngest player to win multiple Challenger titles in a single season since 2018, behind only Carlos Alcaraz, Jannik Sinner, Felix Auger-Aliassime and Holger Rune.

South American-born players to win three Challenger titles aged 18 & under:

Player	Age
Juan Martin del Potro	17 years, 10 months
Joao Fonseca	18 years, six months
Guillermo Coria	18 years, 10 months

Fonseca will climb to a career-high No. 62 in the PIF ATP Rankings Monday. En route to the Phoenix title, the #NextGenATP star ousted four Top 100 players, including former No. 4 Kei Nishikori in the semi-finals. Fonseca arrived in Arizona following a second-round exit in Indian Wells, where he fell to eventual champion Jack Draper. Fonseca boasts a 20-4 season record across all levels.

The champion at the 2024 Next Gen ATP Finals presented by PIF, the teenager opened the year with a title run at the Canberra Challenger, just two weeks removed from his Jeddah triumph. Fonseca earned his first tour-level title last month at the clay-court ATP 250 in Buenos Aires. He is the first player to win an ATP 250, Challenger 175 and Challenger 125 trophy in the same season.

In Phoenix doubles action, Marcel Granollers and Horacio Zeballos ousted Austin Krajicek and Rajeev Ram 6-3, 7-6(2) in a final that consisted of four former No. 1 doubles players. The Americans Krajicek and Ram will rue letting slip four set points in the second set, which they served for at 5-3 and held a 40/0 lead.

Picture perfect champions 🏆 #ATPChallenger | @aztennisclassic pic.twitter.com/F07fTmHj0S

— ATP Challenger Tour (@ATPChallenger) March 16, 2025