By Shrivathsa Sridhar MELBOURNE (Reuters) -Endless queues outside Melbourne Park's 1573 Arena on a sunny Thursday afternoon gave casual fans the impression that a Grand Slam champion was in action, but a quick peek inside revealed the carnival atmosphere and explained the interest.

Joao Fonseca definitively introduced himself to the world as the latest teen sensation in men’s tennis, upsetting No. 9 seed Andrey Rublev in the first round of the Australian Open.

The 18-year-old produced a stunning first-round victory over world number nine Andrey Rublev in the first round in Melbourne before losing in five sets to Lorenzo Sonego at the next stage

Fonseca was part of the 2024 lineup alongside Fils and Luca Van Assche of France; Michelsen, eventual finalist Learner Tien and Nishesh Basavareddy of the U.S.; Jakub Mensik of the Czech Republic and Shang Juncheng of China, who also goes by his Americanized name, Jerry Shang.

Novak Djokovic sees a bit of himself as a young player in rising teenager Joao Fonseca and particularly welcomed the prospect of a top talent coming out of Brazil.

Teenage rising star Joao Fonseca was bundled out in the Australian Open second round on Thursday by wily Italian Lorenzo Sonego in a five-set thriller.

Italy's Lorenzo Sonego beat Brazilian Joao Fonseca, widely considered the rising star of international tennis, 6-7 6-3 6-1 3-6 6-3 on Thursday to reach the third round of the Australian Open. Lorenzo Musetti is also in the third round after beating Canadian Denis Shapovalov 7-6,