Fils loses again to Fonseca

Arthur Fils had the perfect opportunity to exact revenge on Wednesday. Up against Brazilian nugget Joao Fonseca (world no. 145, 18), the Frenchman had the chance to make up for his humiliation in Rio and take the lead in his group.

In the end, the opposite happened. As a reminder, the current world number 20 had been largely dominated in the first round of the ATP 500 in Rio in February by the same young Brazilian, then ranked 655th in the world (6-0, 6-4).

With Fonseca back in the picture, the match proved to be much more evenly balanced, with the sets sometimes going one way. Yet, once again, it was Joao Fonseca who prevailed in 5 sets (3-4, 4-2, 4-1, 1-4, 4-1).

He joins Learner Tien at the top of the group. On the other hand, Fils will have to pull himself together if he is to live up to his status as favourite.