Teenager Joao Fonseca beat American learner Tien to become the second-youngest winner of the Next Gen ATP Finals title.
The 18-year-old Brazilian, who was the youngest and lowest ranked player at this year’s tournament, beat Thien 2-4 4-3 (10-8) 4-0 4-2 in Jeddah.
In 2019, only Jannik Sinner lifted the title at a younger age than Fonseca, who won all five games in the season-ending tournament for under-21 male players.
The pair also met in the group stage on Thursday, with Fonseca, ranked 145th in the world, coming out on top again against his 19-year-old opponent.
This event will be played in a best-of-five format with four games to win a set.
Besides world No. 1 Sinner, other former champions include four-time Grand Slam winner Carlos Alcaraz and world No. 11 Stefanos Tsitsipas.
Tien started brightly and won the opening set in Saudi Arabia. But Fonseca was able to thwart his opponent and clinch the title in the fourth set as he leveled after a tight second set that went into a long tie-break.
“I was really nervous before the game. I knew it was going to be so difficult,” Fonseca said.
“I played the junior final at the 2023 US Open against Lerner and I know the way he can play. He’s a really good guy and a great player, so I knew it was going to be difficult mentally and physically. But I got through.”
Before the final, Fonseca talked about how he wanted to emulate Sinner, who was his hitting partner in last year’s ATP Finals. There he said he was confident the Italian would turn professional.
