Francisco Cerúndolo will play his seventh CF of the year in Belgrade | ATP Tour

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Cerúndolo will play his seventh CF of the year in Belgrade

The Argentine will look for a place in the semifinals against Medjedovic

November 06, 2024

Francisco Cerúndolo will end the season with eight appearances in the quarterfinals of an ATP Tour tournament, after this Wednesday he guaranteed his place among the best at the Belgrade Open.

The Argentine, who acts as the No. 3 seed, defeated Roman Safiullin in the second round 6-4, 6-4 in one hour and 31 minutes, in a match in which he finished with six direct serves and 85% of points won on first serve according to Infosys ATP statistics.

The No. 29 in the PIF ATP Rankings has reached the quarterfinals in 2024 in Rio de Janeiro (semifinals), Bucharest, the ATP Masters 1000 in Madrid, Hamburg, Umag (champion), Almaty (semifinal) and Belgrade.

Cerúndolo confirmed his great moment of form against Safiullin, a rival who had just achieved victory No. 50 of his career in the first round. In addition, he managed to equal the Lexus ATP Head2Head (1-1), after having lost in their only previous match in the first round of Wimbledon this year in the fifth set.

In the Belgrade quarterfinals he will face the current champion of the Next Gen ATP Finals presented by PIF, the local guest Hamad Medjedovic, who has reached the quarterfinals by eliminating the No. 6 seed Brandon Nakashima in the first round and Aleksandar Kovacevic in the second round.

The other quarterfinal duel that is already set in the Serbian ATP 250 will feature the No. 4 seed Jiri Lehecka, who defeated Marin Cilic this Tuesday, and the Slovakian from the previous phase Lukas Klein, who won his ticket against fellow Argentine Tomas Martin Etcheverry.

For his part, Denis Shapovalov continued his great week in Belgrade and, after passing the qualifying phase, is now in the quarterfinals. The Canadian stunned No. 5 seed Nuno Borges 6-2, 6-4 in just 64 minutes.

The No. 78 in the PIF ATP Rankings appeared in the quarterfinals of an ATP Tour tournament for the 40th time and third of the season, having done so before in Washington and Basel. Now waiting for him is the Australian Christopher O’Connell, who also advanced this Wednesday with authority against Daniel Altmaier 6-3, 6-1 in one hour and 18 minutes.

In one of the most anticipated duels by the fans, Fabian Marozsan ended (6-3, 7-5) the hopes of local Dusan Lajovic in one hour and 15 minutes of play. The Hungarian, who managed to impose his serve and net game on the Serbian cover, managed to achieve victory without facing a single breaking ball.

With the dream of lifting the first ATP Tour title of his sporting career, the Magyar will continue a path full of local figures against Laslo Djere, winner 6-1, 7-6(8) over the Croatian Duje Adjukovic in the match that closed the day at the ATP 250 in Belgrade.

Did you know that…?

Francisco Cerúndolo will end the season as the Argentine with the most victories recorded this year, with a total of 34 in 64 games played, ahead of the 31 shared by both Sebastián Báez (31-27) and Tomás Martín Etcheverry (31-29).