The Czech Mensik will next face ninth seed Dimitrov

#NextGenATP Brazilian Joao Fonseca scored his maiden ATP Masters 1000 win Thursday at the Mutua Madrid Open, where he rallied past fellow teenager Alex Michelsen 4-6, 6-0, 6-2.

The 17-year-old wild card produced a heavy-hitting performance and brought the Spanish crowd alive with superb shotmaking from all corners of the court. A pivotal moment for Fonseca came on serve at 3-1 in the deciding set, when he fought off four break points to maintain his lead, later closing the match after two hours and one minute.

“I’m very, very happy with the way that I played," said Fonseca, who won 61 per cent of his second-serve return points, according to Infosys ATP Stats. “First set, I was super nervous. [He didn’t have to] play, I was missing first. The beginning of the second set I started feeling better.

“The crowd really helped me to [make] this transition, to be more solid. The crowd helped a lot. The second set I just tried to be more solid, and I think that he was more tense than me in the second set. I played well.”

Making his ATP Masters 1000 debut this week, Fonseca next faces 29th seed Cameron Norrie.

The former junior No. 1, who was a quarter-finalist on home soil in Rio de Janeiro and last week in Bucharest, is up to No. 222 in the PIF ATP Live Rankings.

The teen is aiming for his maiden trip to the Next Gen ATP Finals presented by PIF, which runs from 18-22 December. Following his fifth tour-level win Thursday, Fonseca remains sixth in the PIF ATP Live To Jeddah. The 19-year-old Michelsen is fourth.

In other #NextGenATP action, Czech Jakub Mensik downed German Yannick Hanfmann 6-4, 7-6(3) after closing the two-hour, one-minute encounter on his fourth match point.

“It was a pretty tough match from the beginning. I knew before the match that he is a very tough opponent. I played him two years ago at a Challenger in Bratislava and lost, but I know that some time has passed and now I am different,” said Mensik, who is second in the PIF ATP Live Race to Jeddah.

“It was especially tough for me because I didn’t play for a while. My last tournament on a clay court was nine months ago and also the last match in general was in Miami. So after one month it is a very good victory and I think everything here is good for me, because the clay court is super fast. With the altitude here, it is crazy how the ball flies during the serve motion or during the point. I think that is better for me.”

The 18-year-old, who reached the Doha final, will next meet ninth seed Grigor Dimitrov.

Reigning Next Gen ATP Finals champion Hamad Medjedovic earned his first tour-level win of the season with a 4-6, 7-5, 6-4 victory against Aleksandar Kovacevic. The 20-year-old, No. 130 in the PIF ATP Rankings, advanced through qualifying in what is just his fourth event across all levels this year.