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Brazilian teenager Joao Fonseca was already earning rave reviews before the Australian Open, but has a new legion of fans after dumping world No.9 Andrey Rublev out of the tournament in straight sets in the first round.

The 18-year-old qualifier’s Instagram followers almost doubled beyond half a million in the day after his 7-6 (7-1), 6-3, 7-6 (7-5) defeat of Rublev as excitement builds about one of the sport’s best prospects.

Fonseca is yet to lose or even drop a set this year, winning the Canberra Challenger event before breezing through Open qualifying and then beating Rublev, a quarter-finalist at Melbourne Park last year. Those results followed the former junior world No.1 triumphing at the ATP’s Next Gen Finals.

“It’s just amazing, for me, what I did. My first win in a grand slam, my first win against a top-10 player, my first time playing in the main draw of a grand slam,” Fonseca said.

“So, everything’s new for me, but I played such a good match. I’m very happy with myself, very proud of the way that I fought, and the way that I stayed mentally [strong] on every game, every point.”

Fonseca slashed almost 600 spots off his year-end ATP ranking to finish 2024 at No.145, but is now projected to make his top-100 debut.

There is belief that he could join Jannik Sinner and Carlos Alcaraz in a new “big three”, after Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic dominated tennis for a combined two decades.

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