Cerúndolo, 23 years old and ranked 103 in the ATP world ranking, lost to Ruud (8) after an hour and 34 minutes of play on the center court of Hard Rock Stadium in Miami. Thus ended his two magical weeks, the best of his career.
The Argentine was saddened by the defeat, although he was satisfied with having played at a high level and also because will make an important jump in the ranking, since from next Monday it will appear in position 51.
Ruud, champion this year of the Argentina Open, will play on Sunday the final of the tournament that takes place on fast surface and will distribute prizes for 8,584,055 dollars against the winner of the other semifinal, which will star the Polish Hubert Hurkacz (10), reigning champion, and rising Spanish Carlos Alcaraz (16).
As for Cerúndolo, he starred in two weeks at a high level and thus stringed together five consecutive wins against the Dutchman Tallon Griekspoir (57), the American Reilly Opelka (18), the talented Frenchman Gael Monfils (24), the American Frances Tiafoe (31) and the Italian Jannik Sinner (11).
Although he had been a finalist in the 2020 edition of the Argentina Open and a semifinalist this year at the ATP 500 in Rio de Janeiro, his performance in Miami surpasses all of the above, as it is a Masters 1000 and on a fast surface, with a campaign comparable to that of Juan Martín Del Potro from Tandil when he fell in the semis against local John Isner in 2018, in the last great performance of an Argentine in Florida.
The best of Cerúndolo was seen against Monfils and the worst against Ruud, where he showed mental and physical fatigue, perhaps largely because he is a tennis player unaccustomed to playing the final instances of this kind of tournament.
In the first set “Cisco” was always close on the scoreboard until he lost it 6-4 when he gave up his serve in the tenth game, although he never gave the feeling of feeling comfortable and was unable to complicate the Norwegian with his backhand, a blow that had given him results in the previous matches.
In the second set, his entire game plan was completely out of whack, as he made numerous unforced errors against a rival who made little mistakes and took advantage of every gap he found.
The Argentine made 33 unforced errors and gave up his serve twice (1-3 and 1-5), until the Norwegian took the set and the match almost unopposed on his serve.
The tournament, which after being played for 32 years at Crandon Park in Key Biscayne, moved in 2019 to Hard Rock Stadium, the stadium of the Miami Dolphins of the NFL, had as its first champion in the new venue the Swiss Roger Federer, while in 2020 it was not played due to the coronavirus pandemic.
The Miami tournament is played in parallel with the WTA tournament, also in the 1000 category, which consecrated finalists to the Polish Iga Swiatek and the Japanese Naomi Osaka, who will face each other for the title this Saturday.
Swiatek (2), Indian Wells Masters 1000 champion 12 days ago and new number one in the world as of April 4, beat American Jessica Pegula (21) 6-2, 7-5 in the semifinals, while Osaka (77) beat Swiss Belinda Bencic (28) 4-6, 6-3, 6-4 in the semis.
Source: Ambito
David William is a talented author who has made a name for himself in the world of writing. He is a professional author who writes on a wide range of topics, from general interest to opinion news. David is currently working as a writer at 24 hours worlds where he brings his unique perspective and in-depth research to his articles, making them both informative and engaging.
