Joao Fonseca becomes first man born in 2006 or later to reach an ATP final in Buenos Aires

Yesterday in Buenos Aires, 18-year-old Joao Fonseca became the youngest Brazilian man to reach an ATP semifinal in the Open Era, coming back from double match point down for a thrilling 3-6, 6-4, 7-5 quarterfinal victory over Argentina’s Mariano Navone.

Today he kept the wins coming, battling past Laslo Djere of Serbia, 7-6 (3), 5-7, 6-1, in the semifinals of the ATP 250 clay-court event.

And with that victory, he pulled off another set of achievements.

First of all, one-upping his own record from yesterday, he’s the youngest Brazilian man to reach an ATP final in the Open Era. The previous record belonged to Thiago Seyboth Wild, who was 19 when he reached the final—and eventually won the title—in Santiago in 2020.

Second of all, he’s the youngest South American man to reach an ATP final in 24 years. Jose Acasuso of Argentina was a slightly younger 18-year-old when he reached his first ATP final at Buenos Aires in 2001.

And last but definitely not least, cutting geography out of the equation, he’s the first man born in 2006 or later to reach an ATP final. He was already the first to reach an ATP quarterfinal (at his home tournament in Rio last year) and first to reach an ATP semifinal (this week).

Saturday's semifinal clash very nearly ended in straight sets.

After Fonseca rolled through the tie-break to take the 61-minute first set, he had some big chances to close it out in the second set—not only did he serve for it at 5-3, but even after getting broken right back, he got to match point in the next game with Djere serving 4-5, 30-40.

It wasn't to be, though, at that time anyway, as Djere hung tough and ended up winning the last four games of the second set (and 11 of the last 13 points from match point down) to send it to a decider.

Things looked dicey for Fonseca early in the third set as well, as he faced double break point in the very first game, but he dug out the hold, and after Djere held for 1-all, the Brazilian teenager shifted to a whole new gear, reeling off the next five games in a row—including 11 points in a row at one point—to sprint past the finish line.

"Today was really difficult against a really good player," he said after the two-hour, 34-minute victory. "He went through qualies so he's playing amazing tennis, and we already knew how Laslo could play, he already won an ATP 500. I had to play my best today.

"Today was with my heart, today was with pain, and we got through. We're in the final, so there's one more to go, so let's go for it."

Fonseca finished the match with a whopping 46 winners to 31 unforced errors, with his forehand being the shot of the match, producing more than twice as many winners as unforced errors, 27 to 12.

Standing between Fonseca and his first ATP title will be Francisco Cerundolo, who followed up his quarterfinal upset over world No. 2 Alexander Zverev with a 6-2, 6-4 semifinal win over Pedro Martinez.

Cerundolo, who was born and resides in Buenos Aires, will be going for his fourth ATP title and first on home soil, his other three all coming in Europe—at Bastad in 2022, Eastbourne in 2023 and Umag in 2024.

Cerundolo and Fonseca will be playing each other for the first time.