Madrid: a good and a bad one for Argentines :: Olé

Francisco Cerúndolo (22nd) returned to his best level at the stage of the year in which he must defend a good number of points. Motivated and loved by the people, he has already secured a place among the 16 best in the Madrid Masters 1000after having defeated the American Tommy Paul (16th) by 6-7 (7), 6-4 and 6-2 in 2h27m, in the third round.

The 25-year-old Argentine demonstrated once again that he has the weapons to be able to hurt the main players on the circuit. That he is already one more and that he is physically prepared to undergo a battle. In a marathon on brick dust, he knows that he has room to reach the end with strength. And after several matches that escaped him during the year when he decided everything in the third set (falls in Indian Wells, Miami, Houston, Monte Carlo and Bucharest), on the second most important court in the Caja Mágica he reached the outcome with an advantage overwhelming against a rival who was disarming as the minutes passed.

Although Fran missed the chance in the opening set to take the first advantage, given that he was up twice and even served 6-5 to close it, In the next two sets he had no doubts with the serve and excelled from the return. In fact, he raised his percentages with the serve (he went from 61% of the first, winning 75% to 74%, keeping the same number; and he raised the statistics with the second) and was finer with the forehand. So much so that He connected 38 winners and 32 unforced errors. She got it right more than she missed.

Now, the key change in the development was the Argentine’s intelligence in detecting his rival’s physical problem. Exhausted and almost without legs, Paul bet stick by stick from the baseline. And beyond the fact that Cerúndolo won 73-55 in that area, The dropshot was the impact that changed everything and allowed him to score a vital success for his confidence.

“It’s been a difficult year. The first two months were horrible. It’s hard on my head. (…) I knew I was playing well. I had chances in those matches, but I couldn’t win them and it is important to have won today for confidence,” said the winner as soon as he finished his match.

On Tuesday, at a time to be confirmed, the Buenos Aires native will seek passage to the quarterfinals against the winner of the duel between Alexander Zverev (5th) and Denis Shapovalov (132nd), who has just lost Facundo Díaz Acosta and Tomás Etcheverry.

For the fifth time in his career, Taylor Fritz (13th) defeated Sebastián Báez (19th). In this case, he went for a resounding 6-2 and 6-3 in 1h04m. The American, former top 10, hit 11 aces and did not give a single chance of a break.

Two-time defending champion Carlos Alcaraz comfortably beat Brazilian Thiago Seyboth Wild, cementing his return from injury. The Spaniard won 6-3, 6-3 for his second consecutive victory in his first tournament after missing Monte Carlo and Barcelona due to an arm injury.