Francisco Cerúndolo made another great performance and settled in the quarterfinals of the Miami Masters 1000, after beating Italian Lorenzo Sonego 3-6, 6-3, 6-2 early Wednesday morning. Installed among the eight best in the tournament, the Argentine tennis player will look for a new step this Thursday against the Russian Karen Khachanov.
Cerúndolo, ranked 31st in the ATP world ranking, took two hours to defeat Sonego (59) in a rough match that closed a rainy day in Miami. For this reason, the match was delayed and even had to be changed from the Grandstand track to the Buchholz track, at the Hard Rock Stadium where the tournament takes place.
“How nice, let’s go! To the quarterfinals! Great game against a great rival and friend!”, published “Fran” on his account on the social network Twitter after having settled among the eight best in the tournament that is played on a surface of cement in parallel between the ATP and the WTA, and will distribute prizes for a total of 10,155,105 dollars.
The 24-year-old Argentine will play his next match this Thursday night against the Russian Karen Khachanov (16), a rival he faced only once and lost, last year in the second round of the Canadian Masters 1000 for a tight 7-6 (7-4), 5-7 and 6-3.
Cerúndolo, who defends in Miami the points he scored last year when he advanced to the semifinals, puts in a great performance and had already beaten American Aleksandar Kovacevic (102) 6-4, 6-4 in the previous rounds, and the ” top ten” Canadian Felix Auger-Aliassime (6) by 6-2 and 7-5. After an erratic start, in which he showed many unforced errors, the Argentine focused on his game and ended up dominating Sonego to add another very good victory.
In the case of defeating Khachanov, Cerúndolo will play in the semifinals against the Russian Daniil Medvedev (5) or the American Christopher Eubanks (119). The top favorite in the men’s draw is the Spanish Carlos Alcaraz (1), who successively beat the Argentine Facundo Bagnis (100) 6-0 and 6-2, the Serbian Dusan Lajovic (76) 6-0 and 7-6 ( 7-5), and the American Tommy Paul (19) by 6-4 and 6-4.
Alcaraz, who defends the title he won in 2022, will play his next match starting at 9:30 p.m. against the American Taylor Fritz (10). In case of advancing to the semifinals, the 19-year-old Spaniard will meet the Italian Jannik Sinner (11) or the Finn Emil Ruusuvuori (54), who will face each other starting at 4:00 p.m.
In the ladies’ draw, without the Polish Iga Swiatek (1), current champion who withdrew from the tournament due to injury, the candidates for the title are the Kazakh Yelena Rybakina (7), champion in the previous Masters 1000 played in Indian Wells, and the Belarusian Aryna Sabalenka (2), winner this year of the Australian Open.