Tennis: João Fonseca wins and Brazil takes the lead over Belgium in the Davis Cup

Brazil remains alive in the Davis Cup after the victory of John Fonseca about the Belgian Raphael Collignon by 2 sets to 1 (6-3, 6-7 and 6-3) in 1h51 of match on Saturday morning (14), in Bologna, Italy. The triumph of the tennis player from Rio de Janeiro makes the country start ahead in the duel with Belgium, which will still have two more matches throughout the day. Thiago Monteiro face Zizou Bergs and then the doubles duel takes place.

Fonseca, 18, achieved his second victory in three Davis Cup matches this year. The tennis player, who has been one of the country’s highlights in 2024, climbing positions in the ranking (he is currently number 158 in the world), had already defeated Dutchman Botic Van de Zandschulp last Thursday (12).

In the Davis Cup, countries are divided into groups with four teams playing in the same venue. Brazil is in Group A, along with Italy, the Netherlands and Belgium, all playing in Bologna. Each match between the countries consists of three matches, two singles and one doubles.

The winning country in this best-of-three scheme adds a victory to the standings. So far, Brazil has not won any matches, having been defeated by Italy and the Netherlands.

To qualify, the team led by Jaime Oncins need to finish victorious against Belgium (winning one of their two remaining games) and hope that Italy, with two wins, beat the Netherlands, who have one win overall. Belgium also have one win in the standings from Group A.

The two best countries from each of the four groups will qualify for the next phase, to be played in Malaga, Spain.

Source: CNN