Tomás Etcheverry and Juan Manuel Cerúndolo exited the Stockholm Open on Tuesday, leaving the tournament without two of its three opening main-draw Argentinian competitors.
Etcheverry withdrew ahead of his scheduled second-round match against compatriot Thiago Tirante due to a left soleus muscle injury. The 29th-ranked player sustained the issue during his previous week’s match against Rinky Hijikata at the Paris Masters 1000. He attempted to play through the discomfort in his tournament debut against local wildcard Max Dahlin, securing a 6-4, 6-7 (6-8), 6-3 victory while wearing a bandage.
Opting against risking a greater injury, Etcheverry elected to pull out of the ATP indoor event. The decision concludes his season, during which he captured his first ATP title at the Rio de Janeiro 500, reached a ranking of 25th, advanced to the US Open round of 16, and made the semifinals in Buenos Aires. He registered 29 wins and the same number of losses.
With Etcheverry’s withdrawal, Tirante moved directly into the quarterfinals of the Stockholm Open. The 51st-ranked player reached his sixth ATP Tour quarterfinal, his fifth of this season and his second on a hard surface following his arrival at that stage in Cincinnati last August. Tirante is 49th in the live rankings and awaits the winner of the match between Norway’s Casper Ruud and Kazakhstan’s Aleksandr Shevchenko.
Earlier on the central court, Juan Manuel Cerúndolo faced American Alex Michelsen in the round of 16. Michelsen defeated the left-handed Argentine 6-3, 6-2 in 1 hour and 16 minutes. Cerúndolo had previously earned his first ATP Tour success on an indoor hard surface by defeating local wildcard Elias Ymer in the first round. The result leaves Cerúndolo with a 2-8 record against top-50 opponents on hard courts this year.
Established in 1969, the Stockholm Open is the oldest indoor ATP tournament in the world. Past champions include Bjorn Borg, John McEnroe, Stefan Edberg, and Roger Federer, alongside Argentinian winners David Nalbandian in 2008 and Juan Martín del Potro in 2016 and 2017. The 723,435-euro tournament is located in week 45 of the 47 total weeks of the season, ahead of the Masters tournament in Turin.
