Francisco Cerúando arrives at 4R in Indian Wells for the first time | ATP Tour

Indian Wells

Closing it arrives at 4r in Indian Wells for the first time

He is the first Argentine to achieve it from Schwartzman in 2021

March 10, 2025

Francisco’s progression closing it in this section of the season is evident. And so it is moving in the form of results in the BNP Paribas Open, a tournament in which this Monday reached the fourth round for the first time.

To achieve this, the Argentine was able to stop Botic Van de Zandschulp 6-3, 6-4 in an hour and 41 minutes. Serial head No. 25 managed to leave out the Dutch, who had been Novak Djokovic’s executioner in the previous tie.

In this way, the eldest of the brothers Cerúndo him became the fifth Argentine player to advance to the fourth round in Indian Wells and the first since Diego Schwartzman did so in 2021 (he then signed the quarterfinals).

No. 26 of the PIF ATP Rankings is drawing an ascending trajectory, from less to more, at this start of the season. He took advantage of his passage through the South American tour to reach his first final of the year in Buenos Aires (with Joao Fonseca), while in Santiago he reached the semifinals and in the ATP 500 of Rio de Janeiro, to the quarter.

His performance has not declined with the return to the hard track. While at its premiere in Indian Wells it beat the American Mackenzie McDonald in three sets, this time he found less problems to tear down Van de Zandschulp.

The Argentine replied to a start of the game, in which his opponent dominated 1-3. However, he was able to chain five consecutive games to close the first set in his favor by 6-3, while in the second manga a break-3 of the 4 opportunities he had according to the Infosys ATP statistics-in the ninth game was sufficient.

Cerúndo it was classified for the third time to the fourth round of an ATP Masters 1000 in the United States, since it had previously been able to appear in Miami 2022 and quarter -final semifinals in that same tournament in 2023.

Now, closing it will be measured before the favorite No. 9 Alex de Miñaur, who won Hubert Hurkacz 6-4 6-0. For the Aussie it was his triumph No. 50 Un AT Masters 1000 and became the fifth Australian who achieves that amount of victories in that category of tournaments after Lleyton Hewitt (128), Patrick Rafter (75), Mark Philippoussis (71) and Nick Kyrgios (52).

For his part, Alejandro Tabilo could not accompany him to the fourth round, after fighting for the third sown Taylor Fritz. The former champion, who conquered the most important title of his career in Indian Wells in 2022, recovered from a slow start to overcome the Chilean by 4-6, 6-3 and 6-1.

Fritz has struggled to find his best level in recent weeks, falling into his second game in Dallas and Delray Beach. The world No. 4 will try to continue improving at home, in Indian Wells, where he will face British left -handed Jack Draper.

Did you know what …?

Francisco Cerúando will seek in the fourth round of the BNP Paribas operate the victory No. 30 of his career in the ATP Masters 1000. The Argentine has a record of 29-22 in the tournaments of this category.