Francisco Cerúndolo scored a great victory in the ATP of Barcelona by defeating with great authority the Norwegian Casper Ruud, number three in the world The man from Buenos Aires prevailed 7-6 (7-5) and 6-3 in one hour and 55 minutes to qualify for the quarterfinals, an instance in which will be measured with the British Daniel Evans.
Number one in Argentina, Cerúndolo is going through a good present on the circuit and he demonstrated it against Ruud, double champion of the Buenos Aires tournament and finalist of the US Open last year. The Norwegian had a 5-3 and 40-15 advantage in the opening setbut the argentinian raised both set pointsbroke the service of his rival, forced the tie break and took the set with great solvency in the tiebreaker.
The emotional impact of winning the first set helped the Argentine to take a 3-0 lead in the secondan advantage that he would not abandon and that would allow him to close the game with relative comfort.
Cerúndolo, fifteenth seeded in Barcelona, will seek to continue advancing in the tournament when he meets Evanswhich surprised the Russian Karen Khachanov 6-3 and 6-4. On that side of the table comes the top favorite for the title, the local Carlos Alcaraz, who beat his compatriot Roberto Bautista Agut and now will clash with the also Spanish Alejandro Davidovich Fokina.