FRENCHMAN Alexandre Muller knows he was the most disliked tennis player in Rio de Janeiro on Tuesday night with the 28-year-old playing the role of party pooper against Brazilian wunderkind Joao Fonseca.

Muller had lost his past three singles matches since a stunning rule to the Hong Kong Open title in the first week of 2025. Technically only three of his five wins in that ATP250 tournament came in the new year, and the world number 60 had to take on a red-hot Fonseca in front of thousands of adoring Brazilian fans.

In one of the toughest scenarios for any player, Fonseca’s popularity grew ten-fold since triumphing in Buenos Aires two days earlier. But a couple of days is a long time in tennis and Fonseca, who returned to his home nation full of confidence and riding an overwhelming wave of support, walked off court Quadra Guga Kuerten with his tournament over in just 94 minutes.

Muller played his best match since winning in Hong Kong, able to put the raucous Brazilian crowd to the back of his mind, and used the underdog tag brilliantly to completely dismantle the hard-hitting Brazilian in the first set.

It lasted just 29 minutes with Fonseca hitting just three winners for 12 unforced errors in arguably the worst set he has played all year. By contrast, Muller dropped just eight points on serve – and 14 points all up – by breaking twice and saving both break point opportunities he faced to win the opening set 6-1 after being 5-0 up.

The second set was a lot tighter as Fonseca started to get his game going, though he made life difficult for himself with a couple of long holds to start the set. Still neither player ould break the other and the match went to a tiebreaker. Grabbing a mini-break early in the tiebreaker, Muller went 5-2 up before Fonseca closed the gap to 4-5.

However the Frenchman stood tall in the face of adversity to hold both service points and salute 7-4 to win the match and advance to the second round. Muller finished with a far more economical 18 winners to 17 unforced errors, compared to Fonseca’s 21 and 42, which was the difference in the game.

Muller said he was relieved for the match to be over given the general feeling in the stadium.

“It was tough to play against such a great player and perhaps 5,000 [fans], but I’m very happy to get the victory today,” Muller said post-match. “I was feeling calm in half of the match. I didn’t take my chances to take the break in the second set and then he was playing better and better. I played a great tiebreak to finish the match.”

Up next for Muller is eighth seeded Argentinian Tomas Etcheverry who accounted for another Frenchman in Corentin Moutet, 6-3 7-6. He joined his compatriots in seeds, Francisco Cerundolo and Sebastian Baez, and unseeded hopes Mariano Navone and Camilo Ugo Carabelli in the Round of 16.

World number two Alexander Zverev fought off Yunchaokete Bu in his first round match, with Italy’s Luciano Darderi, Portugal’s Jaime Faria and Bosnia and Herzegovina’s Damir Dzumhur were the other victors on day two.

2025 RIO OPEN WTA500 – ROUND OF 32 RESULTS:

[1] Alexander Zverev (GER) defeated Yunchaokete Bu (CHN) 7-6 6-4
[4] Francisco Cerundolo (ARG) defeated Hugo Gaston (FRA) 7-6 6-0
[5] Sebastian Baez (ARG) defeated Roman Andres Burruchaga (ARG) 6-3 7-5
Camilo Ugo Carabelli (ARG) defeated [7] Pedro Martinez (ESP) 4-6 6-3 6-3
[8] Tomas Martin Etcheverry (ARG) defeated Corentin Moutet (FRA) 6-3 7-6
Alexandre Muller (FRA) defeated Joao Fonseca (BRA) 6-1 7-6
Luciano Darderi (ITA) defeated [Q] Hugo Dellien (BOL) 7-6 2-2 RET
Damir Dzumhur (BIH) defeated Dusan Lajovic (CRO) 6-3 6-4
Jaime Faria (POR) defeated [Q] Marcelo Tomas Barrios Vera (CHI) 6-2 7-5
Mariano Navone (ARG) defeated Roberto Carballes Baena (ESP) 6-4 6-3