Joao Fonseca reaches first Masters quarter-final in Monte Carlo, sends message to his rivals

Fonseca’s big win over Berrettini takes him to the Monte Carlo quarter-finals

Joao Fonseca took down Matteo Berrettini 6-3, 6-2 in the third round of the 2026 Monte Carlo Masters.

Berrettini came into the match off two dominant performances – a retirement win over Roberto Bautista Agut and a double bagel against Daniil Medvedev. But Fonseca didn’t let that faze him, controlling the match from start to finish.

The young Brazilian has been playing with plenty of confidence this season, and his post-match comments made it clear he’s not backing down from anyone.

Fonseca sets sights higher after reaching first Masters 1000 quarter-final

Fonseca was pleased with the result, but his focus quickly shifted to the next step in his career.

“Super special, I was looking for this result for a long time,” Fonseca said. “Of course, I want more.”

“I’m looking forward to tomorrow. I still don’t know who I’m playing, but for sure, I’m very confident and very focused on my match.”

“Very happy with the way I fought today, from the beginning putting on a lot of pressure, playing huge return games, and very good serve games as well,” said Fonseca.

“Serve plus one, return plus one, was aggressive, so I was putting on a lot of pressure, and that helped me stay calm during the match, and putting pressure on him; he was feeling the tension. The support from the crowd was really important today as well.”

Zverev will be favoured if he advances past Bergs, but even he will be wary of Fonseca’s current form. The teenager has been seen as a future Grand Slam champion for some time now, and his showing this week in Monaco has only reinforced those expectations.

Fonseca’s immediate desire for ‘more’ after reaching a Masters 1000 quarter-final highlights his determination to reach those heights.

The Brazilian has the mental game to complement his physical skills and offered an insightful breakdown of how he approached the win over Berrettini.

Jamie Murray reacts to ‘seriously impressive performance’ from Joao Fonseca

During Sky Sports’ post-match coverage, Murray shared his thoughts on Fonseca’s win.

“That’s a seriously impressive performance from Fonseca, got better and better as the match went on,” he said.

“Very impressive second set, finished the match so strongly. Really took [Matteo] Berrettini to the woodshed, I think.”

Murray also spoke about Berrettini’s drop-off compared to previous matches while highlighting where Fonseca excelled tactically.

“Berrettini disappointed with his serve stats, his forehand went off the boil completely in that second set, Fonseca was more than ready to take advantage of that,” said Murray.

“I’m sure he will be very excited about the opportunity to play on Centre Court tomorrow, his first quarter-finals of a Masters series.

“For me, first serve percentage, 45, that needs to be up around 65 to 65% there, to give him more opportunity to dictate the points from ball three.

“Fonseca barely lost points on his first serve.

“A lot of forehand unforced errors as well [for Berrettini], 17 off his favourite wing, only six winners, that’s nowhere near good enough from him with his reliance on that big forehand to do damage.

“Good to see Fonseca approach the net a lot, a lot of success, he will have a lot of opportunities as his career goes on due to his power and his groundstrokes, ability to push players back and get them running”.

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