Cerúndolo and Etcheverry entered the second week of Roland Garros | Fran beat Taylor Fritz and the player from La Plata beat Borna Coric

Without the lights or the figures of other times, Argentine tennis always manages not to lose prominence. Now the flashes are taken by Francisco Cerúndolo and Tomás Martín Etcheverry, who were among the 16 best players at Roland Garros, by drawing their matches in the third round of the Grand Slam in Paris, played on clay courts.

Cerúndolo, the best “albiceleste” tennis player today and seeded 23rd in the tournament, eliminated the ninth seed, the American Taylo Fritz, 3-6, 6-3, 6-4, 7-5 in two hours and 50 minutes in court Suzanne-Lenglen. This victory is the Argentine’s fourth against opponents located in the top ten of the ATP ranking in seven matches played this year, a streak he will try to extend in the next round when he faces the Danish number 6 Holger Rune.

“I played a great game, Taylor is a great rival, top ten. It’s difficult for him to defend and I knew I had to attack him so as not to let him play so comfortably because otherwise it would be difficult for me. At first it was difficult for me but luckily he can confirm everything that I’m doing this season”, celebrated the Argentine, who has his best performance ever in a major tournament.

Cerúndolo will now run into Rune, a finalist this year at the Rome and Monte Carlo Masters and winner of the ATP 250 in Munich. The Dane put an end to the dream of Argentine Genaro Olivieri, who he beat 6-4, 6-1 and 6-3 in one hour and 58 minutes on the main Philippe-Chatrier court.

The 24-year-old Argentine will never forget his performance in Paris, since he played his first tournament on the ATP circuit in a Grand Slam that he agreed to after having gone through the classification in which he won three matches, and then surprised by overcoming two rounds. Olivieri successively beat Frenchman Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard (237) and Italian Andrea Vavassori (148), until he ran into a higher ranking player like Rune and consummated a logical elimination.

Rune and Cerúndolo record a precedent for the Challenger of Manerbio, Italy, in 2019, which was favorable to the Buenos Aires native 7-6 (4) and 6-0. “I come in a great year and I have a lot of faith,” Fran reaffirmed.

For his part, Etcheverry, who stars in the most important performance of his career in Paris, advanced to the round of 16 by easily beating Croatian Borna Coric 6-3, 7-6 (7-5) and 6-2 . The player from La Plata, ranked 49th in the world ranking, took three hours and three minutes to prevail in straight sets over Coric (16), a rival he had already defeated in the quarterfinals of the Challenger in Perugia last year.

The 23-year-old Argentine showed his best level on court number 14 of the complex located in the Parisian neighborhood of Bois de Boulogne, with superior tennis to what he had shown in his victories in the previous rounds over the British Jack Draper (55 ) and the Australian Alex De Miñaur (19), and for that reason he celebrated by throwing himself to the ground, and then rushed out to hug his grandparents, who were in the audience of the stadium.

“Thanks to my grandparents I play tennis, they bankrolled me for a large part of my career, I was able to give them this moment and that is something wonderful,” said the man from La Plata after his victory. The next rival on the way to Etcheverry in Paris will be the Japanese Yoshihito Nishioka (33), who ended the great week of the Brazilian Thiago Seyboth Wild (172) and beat him 3-6, 7-6 (10-8), 2-6, 6-4 and 6-0.

“I don’t have words to describe this moment. I think I was very loose from the beginning, I knew that Coric was going to have an intense game, in which a lot of balls had to be passed. Physically I’m whole, I want to enjoy this victory and continue with the same energy”, added the tennis player who is a gymnastics fan.

In other results, the Norwegian Casper Ruud (4), Roland Garros finalist in 2022 (lost to the Spanish Rafael Nadal), beat the Chinese Zhizhen Zhang (71) 4-6, 6-4, 6-1 and 6 -4 to settle in the round of 16, while Chilean Nicolás Jarry (35) beat American Marcos Girón (75) 6-2, 6-3, 6-7 (7-9) and 6-3.