Francisco Cerúndolo arrives in Almaty for his third SF of 2024 | ATP Tour

Almaty

Cerúndolo arrives in Almaty for its third SF of 2024

Tabilo lost to Diallo in the quarterfinals of the Almaty Open

October 18, 2024

The tour in Asia did not bring the results that Francisco Cerúndolo expected, but the start of the indoor hard court tournaments has brought a smile back to the Argentine who is already in the semifinals of the Almaty Open.

The No. 4 seed at the ATP 250 held in Kazakhstan resolved his quarterfinal match against local Alexander Shevchenko this Friday 6-2, 6-3 in 64 minutes.

The eldest of the Cerúndolo brothers avenged his last defeat on the ATP Tour, where he had lost in his debut at the ATP Masters 1000 in Shanghai precisely against Shevchenko. In this way, he put the Lexus ATP Head2Head rivalry in his favor 2-1 against the Kazakh.

“I am very happy. I knew it was going to be a very tough game,” Cerúndolo commented in the interview at the foot of the court. “We played last week in Shanghai and he beat me in a very close match. I knew he was playing very well, I told him that on the net. I knew what I had to do and I think I did it very well. I served well and I am very happy to get another semifinal, the first on a hard court this year.”

The No. 31 in the PIF ATP Rankings advanced to the semifinals for the third time this season, having done so previously in Rio de Janeiro and in Umag, where he won his first crown of this season. In addition, it is the second time that he has reached this round on a hard court (he also did so at the ATP Masters 1000 in Miami, where he lost to Ruud).

Cerúndolo bordered on perfection with his serve, with which he scored 92% of the points he put into play with his first serve (24/26). In addition, he saved the only break point opportunity he conceded to be the first Argentine semi-finalist on the ATP Tour outside of clay since Sebastián Báez in Winston-Salem 2023.

In search of a place in what would be the sixth final of his career – and second of the season – he would have to overcome the Canadian Gabriel Diallo, who this Friday surprised the No. seed Alejandro Tabilo in the first match of the day. 3-6, 6-3, 6-4 in one hour and 59 minutes.

Diallo, who had never made it this far in an ATP Tour tournament, will face Cerúndolo for the first time. The world No. 118 has a total of 10 victories in 23 matches played on the circuit.

“I haven’t seen him much,” acknowledged the Argentine about his next rival. “We warmed up together today, but I don’t think I watched many of their games. I’m going to see a little of it [en vídeo] and see how he plays. I think it’s going to be a difficult game. He’s tall, he serves very well, he hits the ball very well. “Here in those conditions, it’s going to be very hard.”

Did you know that…?

Francisco Cerúndolo could reach 100 ATP Tour victories this week at the Almaty Open, if he manages to lift the title. At the moment, the Argentine has a record of 98-85 in his career.