At the last four tournaments in a row, Joao Fonseca has faced a top-10 player. Jannik Sinner in Indian Wells, Carlos Alcaraz in Miami, Alexander Zverev in Monte Carlo, and now Ben Shelton in Munich. Fonseca kept the first three matches competitive, but here he has a real chance to win.
Fonseca vs Shelton in Munich
Shelton’s Up-And-Down Season
Consistency hasn’t exactly been the story of Shelton’s year. He started strong with a quarterfinal showing at the Australian Open and a title in Dallas, but since then, he’s struggled to string wins together.
The poor run of form started at Indian Wells, where Shelton was dealing with illness. He managed to get by Reilly Opelka in his opening match, but subsequently fell to Learner Tien. In Miami, Shelton couldn’t even find one win, falling to Alexander Shevchenko in his opening match.
Still, with his stellar start, those results were negligible. But natural surfaces are the norm for the next few months, and they’ve never been Shelton’s strong suit—something he displayed in his upset loss to Thiago Agustin Tirante in Houston.
And now, in Munich, Shelton will have to take on a very in-form Fonseca.
Fonseca Finding His Form
Lately, Joao Fonseca has been thrown into the deep end. And for the most part, he’s managed to keep his head above water.
It started in Indian Wells, where he notched two straight upsets with wins over Karen Khachanov and Tommy Paul to reach the round of 16. And, going up against Sinner, Fonseca brought his best game, taking Sinner to two tiebreaks with real chances in both. The straight-set loss isn’t indicative of Fonseca’s level in that match, and in that run, he showed he could contend with the best of the game.
In Miami, Fonseca didn’t have as much time, considering he played Alcaraz in the second round. Alcaraz’s win over Fonseca was more dominant than Sinner’s, but still, Fonseca managed to hang with him. Then, in Monte Carlo, Fonseca made his first-ever Masters 1000 quarterfinal. And he not only managed to keep up with Zverev, but Fonseca took a set off of him, too.
Right now, Fonseca has one top 10 win: a first-round defeat of then-No. 9 Andrey Rublev at last year’s Australian Open. But he’s proven that he has the tools to grow that list, and his match against Shelton is a prime opportunity.
The Matchup: Experience, Surface, and Form
Shelton is certainly the more experienced player, with more years on tour and much more time to improve and refine his game. His top-10 ranking reflects that Fonseca is currently hovering around the top 30, still developing as a player.
But the surface levels things. For a big server like Shelton, clay isn’t his preferred surface. He did manage to reach the final in Munich last year, but the weaknesses in his game are better exploited on clay. Fonseca is much more comfortable on clay and could certainly use that to his advantage.
And their recent form is night and day. Shelton hasn’t played his best tennis since Dallas all the way back in February, while Fonseca showcased the very best of his game just last week. Despite Shelton’s higher ranking and the expectations for the matchup on paper, Fonseca has a genuine chance to serve up an upset in Munich.
Main Photo Credit: Susan Mullane – Imagn Images