Brazil moved to the front of Latin America’s Roland Garros campaign on Tuesday, as Luisa Stefani booked a place in the women’s doubles semifinals hours before 19-year-old João Fonseca was due on court for the first Grand Slam quarterfinal of his career.
Stefani, playing alongside Canada’s Gabriela Dabrowski, beat the 11th-seeded pair of Germany’s Laura Siegemund and Russia’s Vera Zvonareva 6-4, 7-5 to reach the final four at the season’s second major. The fourth-seeded duo had already accounted for the same opponents in last month’s Strasbourg final and carried that form onto the Paris clay.
For Stefani, the run extends one of the most decorated doubles careers in Brazilian tennis history. She partnered Laura Pigossi to a bronze medal at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics — the first Brazilians to win an Olympic medal in tennis — and in 2023 won the Australian Open mixed doubles title with compatriot Rafael Matos, the first all-Brazilian team to win a Grand Slam title.
Attention then turns to Court Philippe-Chatrier, where Fonseca faces 20-year-old Czech Jakub Mensik for a place in the semifinals. The Rio teenager, seeded 28th, reached the last eight by rallying from two sets down to stun 24-time major champion Novak Djokovic before outlasting two-time finalist Casper Ruud. The win made him the first Brazilian man to reach the quarterfinals in Paris since Gustavo Kuerten in 2004; Kuerten, a three-time Roland Garros champion, watched from the stands as Fonseca closed out the result.
The two effectively carry the region’s banner into the tournament’s final stretch. The Argentine brothers Francisco and Juan Manuel Cerúndolo and Chile’s Alejandro Tabilo have all left the men’s draw, and Argentina’s Solana Sierra — the surprise of the women’s event — was beaten in the third round. That leaves Fonseca as the last Latin American standing in singles and Stefani flying Brazil’s flag in the doubles.
Fonseca’s quarterfinal is scheduled to begin not before 8:15 p.m. in Paris — 12:15 p.m. in Costa Rica — and will air across Latin America on ESPN and Disney+, with the men’s final set for June 7. A victory would put him two matches from a maiden Grand Slam title. The result of the Mensik match was not yet known at the time of publication.
