With the elimination of Sebastián Báez and Francisco Cerúndolo, the Argentine delegation at the Indian Wells Masters 1000 was left without representatives this Monday. The first fell without mitigation against the American Taylor Fritz (No. 12) by 6-2 and 6-2, while the eldest of the Cerúndolo had a very outstanding performance, but it was not enough and he succumbed by 7-6 (5), 3-6 and 7-6 (5) against Ben Shelton, another local tennis player.
Báez (No. 19), who had started the year very strongly by proclaiming himself champion at the ATP 500 in Rio de Janeiro and the ATP 250 in Santiago de Chile, represented the last hope in the men’s draw, but in the third round He could not beat Fritz, who had already conquered Indian Wells in 2022, defeating none other than the Spanish Rafael Nadal in the final.
Before, the eldest of the Cerúndolo (No. 22) played one of his best matches of the year, but it was not enough and in the early hours of this Monday he said goodbye to the first Masters 1000 of the season after losing a great game against Shelton (No. (#16).
Fran had a demanding challenge in the third round with the duel against the explosive American, one of the most outstanding promises of North American tennis who reached the semifinals of the last edition of the United States Open.
With the match at 2-2, Cerúndolo returned a serve and thought the ball was going wide. True to form, he began to gesticulate and curse. But the point continued and the umpire, Fergu Murphy, gave the point to the local for hindrance, an expression in English that means “obstacle” and is charged when a player performs some action that could distract the rival.
Thus, in an exciting match of two hours and 43 minutes, the last of the day in the Californian desert, Shelton finally won.
A curious fact: both won the same number of points: 111. However, the Buenos Aires player could not gain strength in either of the two tiebreakers and was left empty-handed.
Even so, the American Shelton will not have it easy in the next instance, because the Italian Jannik Sinner, No. 3 in the world and undefeated so far in 2024, awaits him.
Last Sunday, in addition to Sinner, the Spanish Carlos Alcaraz (No. 2), the German Alexander Zverev (No. 6) and the Australian Alex de Miñaur (No. 10) qualified for the round of 16. In contrast, the Russian Andrey Rublev (No. 5) was left out, surpassed by the Czech Jiri Lehecka (No. 32).
In the women’s draw it was also a farewell Sunday for Rosario’s Nadia Podoroska (No. 84), who fell 6-1 and 6-1 against Russian Anastasia Potapova (No. 33).
On the other hand, the Polish Iga Swiatek (No. 1) advanced and the round of 16 will experience an attractive face-to-face between two veteran tennis players who returned to the forefront of the circuit: the German Angelique Kerber (No. 31, 36 years old) and the Danish Caroline Wozniacki (No. 203, 33 years old), two mothers, childhood friends and rivals who will face each other in the California desert.
2024-03-12 03:01:00
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