Aurélien CANOT, Media365, published on Thursday October 13, 2022 at 2:07 p.m.
After qualifying in Gijon, Manuel Guinard, a regular on the Challenger circuit, will not see the quarter-finals. The Breton who fell the day before Fabio Fognini lost Thursday in two sets (7-6, 6-2) against the Argentinian Francisco Cerundolo.
Quarter-finalist last May on the clay courts of the Open Parc de Lyon, where he had pushed Holger Rune in the third set, Manuel Guinard dreamed of offering himself a new quarter, this week in Gijon. Unfortunately for the Breton, the adventure stopped this Thursday from the 2nd round (8th finals of the tournament). Guinard, more accustomed to the Challenger circuit, was not unworthy against Francesco Cerundolo. However, it was the Argentinian, 29th in the standings and seeded number 4 in this Spanish indoor tournament, who enforced the hierarchy by winning in two sets (7-6, 6-2) against the French player 26 years old passed through the qualifications. Fallen the day before the former member of the Top 10 Fabio Fognini, Guinard had however started his match better than Cerundolo by leading 4-2 after taking the service of his opponent.
A great operation in the classification for Guinard
After picking up and overthrowing 153rd in the standings after a decisive game won 7 points to 5, the Argentinian who had reached the last four in Hamburg last July left only crumbs to the one who had won two days earlier against Fognini his third success on the ATP circuit only. The fourth will therefore wait, in the same way as a new qualification for the quarter-finals, five months after the defeat in the Rhône against Rune. Guinard did not lose everything, however. On Monday, in the next ranking, the protege of Sébastien Villette will indeed climb to around 146th place in the world. Very close to his best career ranking so far (140th).
