Young Fonseca delivers on debut
Highly touted Brazilian teenager Joao Fonseca rallied from a break down in the third set to beat Britain’s Jacob Fearnley 6-2 1-6 6-3 on his Indian Wells debut while Nick Kyrgios was in tears as he retired injured from his first-round match.
Fonseca cruised through the first set before Fearnley found his groove in the second to level the match on a windy day in the California desert. Fearnley raced out to a 3-1 lead in the third before Fonseca stepped up his shotmaking to reel off the final five games and wrapped up the win in style with a dazzling lunge volley at the net on match point.
There has been immense hype around the 18-year-old since he beat Andrey Rublev in straight sets at the Australian Open for his first win over a top-10 opponent and won his first ATP Tour title in Buenos Aires last month.
Former Wimbledon finalist Kyrgios wiped away tears before pulling the plug on his match with Botic van de Zandschulp due to a wrist injury while trailing 7-6(7) 3-0.
The loss to the Dutch lucky loser deprives fans of the chance to see Kyrgios play Novak Djokovic in the second round on Saturday.
