Joao Fonseca vs Learner Tien Prediction 3/20/25 Miami Tennis Picks

He'll place the trophy alongside those he won in Canberra and Buenos Aires. The 18-year-old is up to a career-high of No. 60 this week. Before Phoenix, Fonseca played in Indian Wells where he defeated Jacob Fearnley before losing to eventual champion Jack Draper.

Overall, Fonseca has compiled a 20-4 record in 2025, winning 11 of his last 13 matches in all competitions.

Learner Tien Preview

Learner Tien was given a wild card into the main draw. In the end, he didn't need it as his ranking was enough to qualify him thanks to a handful of withdrawals. Tien played in the Miami qualifying two years ago, when he was 17 and a rookie on the circuit, and took a set from Jan-Lennard Struff.

He didn't play there last year, not even in Indian Wells, because he suffered a rib injury and missed three months of tennis from February. But when he returned, he scooped seven titles.

Three of them came from the Challenger during the second half of the season. He also qualified for the Next Gen Finals for the first time and surprisingly made it all the way to the title match after earning three Top 50 wins. He would lose to Fonseca in the final.

Tien has since blossomed this season with two mammoth wins over former World No. 1 Daniil Medvedev at the Australian Open and current World No. 2 Alexander Zverev in Acapulco. He is currently ranked a career-best 66th in the ATP rankings.

Tien is coming off a first-round defeat in Indian Wells to Mariano Navone.

Joao Fonseca vs Learner Tien Head-To-Head

• Fonseca and Tien have played twice at the Tour level.

• Fonseca leads Tien 2-0 in the head-to-head.

• Both matches took place at the 2024 Next Gen ATP Finals.

Joao Fonseca vs Learner Tien Prediction

Even with most of the big names taking to the court on Thursday, this is still the most anticipated match in Miami between two players who are coming onto the big stage. Fonseca and Tien have quite a bit of history, both coming through the college ranks and then headlining the US Open junior finals in 2023.

They also played in the title match at the Next Gen ATP Finals last December (they actually played in the group stage too). So far, it's been all Fonseca who has won all those matches. But maybe the long week in Phoenix could have a negative effect on Fonseca. Now that the Brazilian has also moved higher up in the rankings over Tien, the American will probably be even more motivated to win and the ridiculous price on Tien cannot be overlooked.