Francisco Cerúndolo won the second set and is 1-1 against world number 6 Holger Rune for a place in the Roland Garros quarterfinals

Roland Garros is entering defining moments in the men’s draw and Argentina still has two representatives standing in the fourth round. To open the day on Monday Francisco Cerundolo draw 1-1 with Holger Rune (6th): 6-7 (3), 6-3 and the third set started 1-2 in favor of the Dane. Later it will be the turn of Thomas Etcheverry versus Japanese Yoshihito Nishioka (27°) in the Court Suzanne Lenglen.

The first set began with a strong start by the European with an early break that gave him a 4-1 lead. Far from lowering his arms, Francisco kept the kick out of him and He broke at the right time to achieve a 5-5 parity. He also fought the eleventh game of the match to take it to deuce, but the Dane was firm to keep his serve. Cerúndolo did the same and forced the tiebreaker in the opening chapter. The native of Denmark brought out all the power of him and took the tiebreaker 7-3.

For the second set, the protagonists lowered the intensity and the player from La Plata took advantage of his opponent’s moment of distraction to force the break in the third game to stretch the lead to 4-1. Fran concentrated on taking care of his serve at all costs and he was able to close the sleeve 6-3 in 38 minutes. Rune’s five double faults were instrumental in destabilizing the Dane at a key moment in the match.

Although it is another difficult match, Fran comes from defeating American Taylor Fritz (9th) by 3-6, 6-3, 6-4 and 7-5. On the other side he will have the European tennis player who was the executioner of the Argentinian Genaro Olivieri in the third round since he beat him 6-4, 6-1 and 6-3. The man born in Gentofte is 20 years old, is sixth in the ranking and entered the tournament in that same position as a pre-classified. His historic mark in the event was achieved in the 2022 edition when he reached the quarterfinals and lost to the Norwegian Casper Ruud.

Cerúndolo, for his part, had never managed to overcome the first round at Roland Garros and has already surpassed his best participation in a Grand Slam: his previous milestone was reaching the third round at the Australian Open 2023. Currently in the 23rd link in the ATP ranking , Any phase that Francisco manages to advance will be extra points to continue climbing in the ranking. “In Argentina we all grew up playing on clay and this is the most important tournament for us. With Tomy we are very friends and Hopefully we can both move forward”he commented at a press conference before the match.

During the second turn, the albiceleste representation will not be missing either because Tomás Etcheverry will also jump onto the field to face the Japanese Yoshihito Nishioka looking for a place in the quarterfinals. “The tournament is open, I’m going to continue enjoying every day and I’m fully prepared for the next one”, were Tomy’s words ahead of the clash with the Japanese. His opponent, seeded 27th in the event, left American JJ Wolf, Australian Max Purcell and Brazilian Thiago Seyboth Wild on the road.

On the side of the native of La Plata, his time at Roland Garros involved victories against the British Jack Draperto the Australian Alex de Minaur and the Croatian Borna Coric. Like Cerúndolo, it is already a point gain for the ATP ranking for Etcheverry and in the next update he will be above the 49th position he occupied before the start of the tournament.

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