Wimbledon 2025: Fonseca, Norrie please respective fanbases with second-round wins

Joao Fonseca buried his face in his cap before soaking up a roaring ovation after the Brazilian teen sensation battled past Jenson Brooksby 6-4, 5-7, 6-2, 6-4 and matched his best Grand Slam run by making the third round of Wimbledon on Wednesday.

The rapidly rising star of men’s tennis attracts supporters by the thousands at tournaments and the samba-tinged atmosphere when he is on court can often resemble football matches with many fans dressed in Brazil jerseys chanting his name throughout.

Cheers from Fonseca’s match echoed through the All England Club on a sun-drenched afternoon as he beat Brooksby in a little over three hours to become the first Brazilian man to reach the third round since Thomaz Bellucci in 2010.

“It’s something to be proud of, for sure,” said Fonseca, who is playing in only his fourth tour-level event on grass.

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“It’s a great achievement. I’m very proud of myself with the way I played today. It’s an opportunity to be here and play this amazing tournament. Being in the third round is just amazing.

“I’m very happy the way that I’ve developed on this surface, I’m evolving. So I’m happy with it.”

There has been immense hype around Fonseca after he beat Andrey Rublev in straight sets at the Australian Open for his first victory over a top-10 opponent and won his first ATP Tour title in Buenos Aires in February.

After a run to the French Open third round in May, the 18-year-old Fonseca became the youngest man to make the same stage at Wimbledon since Bernard Tomic in 2011.

His reward is a meeting with Chilean Nicolas Jarry and fans of both players are likely to create a boisterous atmosphere.

“I know Chile fans, they’re loud. Yeah, the Brazilians are loud too. It’s going to be nice,” Fonseca said.

“Nico is a nice person and also a nice player. He has a very good serve. He’s playing good on grass. It’s just going to be a new experience, very nice.

“I’m just going to enjoy, play my best tennis, and hopefully I can go to the fourth round.”

Norrie upsets Tiafoe

Britain’s Cameron Norrie returned to his favourite patch of Wimbledon turf to stun American 12th seed Frances Tiafoe and reach the third round with a 4-6, 6-4, 6-3, 7-5 win.

Court One might lack the aura of the All England Club’s historic Centre Court, but Norrie loves it, having won three matches there during his semifinal run in 2022.

“I was really happy with the schedule when I saw I was on Court One as it’s my favourite court,” Norrie, who has reached the third round for the fourth time, said.

“We both played high level but I stayed so calm and I really enjoyed the battle. The atmosphere was amazing.”

Norrie, 29, was one of seven home players who won their first-round singles matches on Monday — a British record of wins for a single day at Wimbledon in the professional era.

All seven were back on Wednesday, with Sonay Kartal continuing the charge as she thrashed Bulgaria’s Viktoriya Tomova 6-2, 6-2 to book her place in the last 32.

“Today was a good day at the office,” she said.

Katie Boulter followed Norrie on Court One for her clash with Argentina’s Solana Sierra, while British number one Emma Raducanu was also in action later on day three against 2023 champion Marketa Vondrousova.

Norrie’s reign as British number one was ended by Jack Draper, who he surprisingly beat on Court One last year in the second round, and he has struggled to reach the heights of 2021 when he won the Miami Open and 2022 when he lost to Novak Djokovic in the semifinals at Wimbledon.

He lost in the first round of both his warm-up events on grass, but after an excursion on Court 18 on Monday, where he beat Spain’s Roberto Bautisa Agut, he was handed a Court One slot for his clash with Tiafoe.

Tiafoe’s exit means 14 of the 32 men’s seeds are out of the tournament less than halfway through the first week.