João Fonseca defeated Casper Ruud 3 sets to 1 to reach the Roland Garros quarterfinals on Sunday (31). The achievement marks the first time a Brazilian has reached this stage since Guga Kuerten in 2004.
The 19-year-old Brazilian defeated the Norwegian, ranked 16th in the world, with scores of 7/5, 7/6, 5/7 and 6/2 on Court Philippe-Chatrier. The match lasted three hours and 55 minutes.
Gustavo Kuerten watched the victory from the stands. Fonseca said after the match: "It is a pleasure to have him here and to win against a very difficult opponent in front of him".
The Brazilian had eliminated Novak Djokovic in the previous round. He now faces Jakub Mensik, ranked 27th, on Tuesday (2) in the quarterfinals.
With the qualification, Fonseca guarantees at least 470,000 euros in prize money and should rise in the world ranking.
