Eastbourne Open: Fonseca picks up first grass-court win of his career

Brazilian Joao Fonseca moved into the second round of the Eastbourne Open by winning against Belgian Zizou Bergs 6-7 (8), 6-0, 6-3 at the Devonshire Park Lawn Tennis Club on Monday.

The Brazilian player clinched the first grass-court victory of his career. He had come very close last week in Halle but missed a match point against Italian Flavio Cobolli before losing in three sets.

Fonseca responded well after missing three set points in the tie-break, which he eventually lost 10-8. He then handed the Belgian a brutal 6-0 and even extended his run to nine consecutive games, leading 6-7, 6-0, 3-0.

Zizou Bergs managed to recover one break to close the gap to 3-2, but he faltered again right after, allowing Joao Fonseca to pull away for the win and secure a spot in the second round.

“I am very happy to win my first match on grass, here in Eastbourne, in such a nice place and against a very good player,” Fonseca said. “After a tough tie-break, getting through mentally is very good. I am very happy for this one.”

Fonseca, ranked No 57, will play top seed Taylor Fritz next.

Eastbourne ATP 250, other first-round results (Devonshire Park Lawn Tennis Club, grass, EUR 756.875, most recent results first):

• Alexander Bublik vs. Francisco Comesana
• Nuno Borges vs. Jack Pinnington Jones
• Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard vs. Cameron Norrie
• Aleksandar Vukic vs. James Duckworth
• George Loffhagen vs. Reilly Opelka
• Jacob Fearnley vs. Flavio Cobolli
• Luciano Darderi vs. Marcos Giron
• Chun-Hsin Tseng vs. Alejandro Davidovich Fokina
• Fabian Marozsan vs. Lorenzo Sonego
• Mattia Bellucci vs. Quentin Halys
• Daniel Evans vs. Miomir Kecmanovic