The 4 youngest men to beat a top 10 player at a Grand Slam: ft. Carlos Alcaraz & Joao Fonseca

Ewan West
Carlos Alcaraz and Joao Fonseca celebrate
Carlos Alcaraz and Joao Fonseca are two of the youngest men to beat a top 10 player at a major.

Joao Fonseca’s sublime triumph against Andrey Rublev at the 2025 Australian Open saw him become one of the youngest male players to defeat an opponent ranked in the top 10.

Here, we look at the four youngest players to defeat an opponent in the top 10 of the ATP Rankings in a men’s singles Grand Slam match (age at the beginning of the tournament).

4. Joao Fonseca – 18 years and 144 days (beat Andrey Rublev in 2025 Australian Open R1)

Fonseca produced an outstanding display to down world No 9 Rublev 7-6(2), 6-3, 7-6(5) at the 2025 Australian Open in his maiden Grand Slam main draw match.

The 18-year-old Brazilian, who is ranked 112th, earned three dominant straight-set victories to qualify for the hard-court major.

3. Marat Safin – 18 years and 119 days (beat Gustavo Kuerten in 1998 French Open R2)

At the 1998 French Open, Marat Safin defeated an unseeded Andre Agassi in five sets in his first-ever main draw major match.

The Russian qualifier then stunned defending champion and eighth seed Gustavo Kuerten 3-6, 7-6(5), 3-6, 6-4, 6-4 in the second round

Safin, who was the world No 116 at the time, went on to beat Daniel Vacek in a four-set third round match before falling in five sets to Cedric Pioline in the last 16.

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2. Carlos Alcaraz – 18 years and 117 days (beat Stefanos Tsitsipas in 2021 US Open R3)

At the 2021 US Open, an 18-year-old Carlos Alcaraz saw off Cameron Norrie in a straight-set first round contest before beating Arthur Rinderknech in four sets in the second round.

The unseeded Spaniard then upset world No 3 Stefanos Tsitsipas 6-3, 4-6, 7-6(2), 0-6, 7-6(5) in the third round at Flushing Meadows for his first career win over a top 10 player.

Alcaraz, who was ranked 55th, defeated Peter Gojowczyk in five sets in the fourth round before retiring in the second set of his quarter-final with Felix Auger-Aliassime.

1. Mario Ancic – 18 years and 86 days (beat Roger Federer in 2002 Wimbledon R1)

Mario Ancic qualified for the 2002 Wimbledon Championships to set up an opening round encounter with eight-time future champion Roger Federer.

In his Grand Slam main draw debut, Ancic earned a shock 6-3, 7-6(2), 6-3 victory over Federer, who was ranked ninth in the world and seeded seventh.

The 18-year-old Croatian then lost in straight sets to unseeded Czech Jan Vacek in the second round at the All England Club.

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