The good participation of Francisco Cerúndolo at the Madrid Masters 1000 concluded on Wednesday night with a tight three-set defeat against Taylor Fritz. The American, 13th in the ranking, performed better in the decisive moments of a changing match, and earned a place in the semifinals of the tournament being played at the Caja Mágica in the Spanish capital.
Fritz beat Cerúndolo (21st) 6-1, 3-6 and 6-3, in one hour and 46 minutes of action. Fritz’s regularity, more consistent in his game, outweighed the favorable lapses of Cerúndolo, who went from less to more in his game. The Argentine started off imprecise, erratic, and that low level allowed the American to take large leads very quickly (5-0, in 21 minutes), and take the opening set without problems.
Little by little Cerúndolo began to get into the game, more because of his own attitude than because of any setback from Fritz. The American had a couple of chances to resolve it quickly, but the Buenos Aires player escaped a crucial break, and raised a 15-40 lead in the third game. It was a moment that changed the dynamics of the game, because the development became more even. Fritz was comfortable with his serve, but at 3-4 he stumbled, and doubts opened the door for Cerúndolo, who took the break with a fantastic drop. The American had one more chance to recover the break, which he could not capitalize on and the Argentine took the second set with a winning serve.
In an all-or-nothing partial, Cerúndolo sought to tilt the development with very good executions with the parallel backhand, which earned him several points; On the other hand, in several sections the right seemed unfocused. When the duel entered the zone of success or error, the Argentine stumbled: in the eighth game, he went from being 30-0 to losing serve with four points in a row. Fritz took advantage of the decline and quickly ended the duel. On balance, Cerúndolo paid a high price for his 37 unforced errors (21 forehand); Fritz also saw some light in the serve (83% of points won with the first, against 68% for the Argentine). The North American signed his 250th victory as a professional, in almost a decade of career.
The match summary
The defeat prevented Cerúndolo from getting the necessary points to return to the Top 20. But he left Madrid with several wins in his bag, including the valuable success over Alexander Zverev, 5th in the ranking, in his most favorable streak since he arrived in February. passed to the semifinals at the ATP 500 in Rio de Janeiro. These quarterfinals were his best performance in Madrid, and his best participation in almost a year in a masters 1000, since the quarterfinals in Rome 2023.
On the other hand, Frtiz will meet in the semifinals with the Russian Andrey Rublev (8th), who has just made the great impact of the tournament by eliminating the two-time champion Carlos Alcaraz 4-6, 6-3 and 6-2. The young wonder, who will turn 21 on Sunday, came out to play with obvious physical fatigue after the battle he won on Tuesday against Jan-Lennard Struff in the round of 16, which lasted 2 hours and 52 minutes. In this way, Alcaraz ended a series of 14 consecutive victories – an honor that he shares with Rafael Nadal – in the Caja Mágica, as the venue where this tournament takes place is known. He had not lost on this stage since the second round of the 2021 competition, the day he came of age, when he defeated him… precisely Rafa Nadal.
In a matter of hours, the Madrid tournament was left without several of its main stars, after the falls of Alcaraz and Rafael Nadal, plus the announced loss due to injury of the Italian Jannik Sinner, who was the top favorite.
Due to the retirement of the world number 2, the one who advances directly without playing to the semifinals is the Canadian Felix Auger-Aliassime, who awaits the winner of the match that will be played on Thursday by the Russian Daniil Medvedev (4th) and the Czech Jiri Lehecka ( 31°). Medvedev seems to be the main beneficiary of Alcaraz’s defeat: if he wins his duel against Lehecka, he will move to third place in the ranking.
The women’s tournament
On the women’s side, the quarterfinal bracket was completed. The current champion Aryna Sabalenka eliminated the young Russian Mirra Andreeva for the second year in a row in the Spanish capital with a 6-1 and 6-4, and will face the Kazakh Elena Rybakina, who achieved an epic comeback over her compatriot Yulia Putintseva by 4-6, 7-6 (7-4) and 7-5. The recent champion in Stuttgart came back in the second set and managed to save two match points in the third. Rybakina showed that she is still the fittest tennis player of the season, with 30 wins.
The other semifinal is the one sealed on Tuesday by the Polish and world number one, Iga Swiatek, and the American Madison Keys. The two matches in search of the final will be played this Thursday.