Brazilian João Fonseca, ranked 30th in the world, bid farewell to his quest for the Roland Garros title in France on Tuesday (Jun. 2). After a historic run on the Parisian clay, the 19-year-old was eliminated by another rising star of the new generation – 20-year-old Czech Jakub Mensik, currently 27th in the world ranking. With a powerful serve, strong finishing shots, and perfect returns, Mensik dictated the pace of the match, winning 3–0 with set scores of 6–4, 6–3, and 7–6, after a 2-hour, 44-minute battle on the Philippe-Chatrier court, the main court at Roland Garros.

Despite the setback, Fonseca has put Brazil back in the men’s quarterfinals at Roland Garros after a 22-year drought – Brazil’s last representative had been Gustavo Kuerten in 2004.

In the next ranking update on Monday (8), the Brazilian is expected to rise to 25th or 26th place thanks to the impressive victories he has racked up at Roland Garros. Fonseca’s highest ranking was 24th in October last year.

Doubles tournament

Also on Tuesday (2), Brazilian Luisa Stefani advanced to the doubles semifinals in Paris for the first time in her career. Partnering with Canadian Gabriela Dabrowski, the Brazilian defeated the duo of German Laura Siegemund and Russian Vera Zvonareva 2–0, with set scores of 6–4 and 7–5. The pair returns to the court this Friday (5) against American Taylor Townsend and Czech Katerina Siniakova.

This Wednesday (3), Brazilian Marcelo Demoliner and Indian Sriram Balaji take the court together for a spot in the Roland Garros semifinals. They will face the duo formed by Australian Henry Patten and Finnish Harri Heliövaara. The pair advanced to the quarterfinals by defeating Germans Puetz and Krawietz 2–0 (7–5, 6–4) last Monday (1).
 

Brazilian Luisa Stefani won the women’s doubles title at the WTA 500 in Strasbourg (France) last Saturday (May 23). To claim the tournament trophy, Stefani and Canadian Gabriela Dabrowski defeated American Quinn Gleason and Norwegian Ulrikke Eikeri in the final 2–0, with set scores of 7–5 and 6–4.

The Strasbourg tennis tournament serves as a warm-up for Roland-Garros, or the French Open, which began on Sunday (24).

It was the Brazilian’s second consecutive doubles title at the WTA 500 in Strasbourg. She won her first with her former partner, Timea Babos of Hungary.

This year, Stefani and Dabrowski also won the WTA 1000 in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, and reached the semifinals at the Australian Open and the WTA tournaments in Miami, US, and Doha, Qatar.

Before resuming their partnership in November of last year, the Brazilian and the Canadian had already won titles together in Montreal, Canada, in 2021 and Chennai, India, in 2022.