The Argentine tennis player Francisco Cerúndolo played well below his usual level and paid for it with the defeat in the final of the ATP 250 in Lyon, in France, when he fell against local Arthur Fils 6-3, 7-5.
Cerúndolo, ranked 28th in the ATP world ranking, lost after an hour and 33 minutes of play in straight sets against Fils (112), a French tennis promise born in Metz 18 years ago.
The 24-year-old Argentine lost the second final of his career, the previous one having been the 2021 Argentina Open against his compatriot Diego Schwartzman, while winning his only ATP title last year in Bastad, Sweden.
After the defeat, Cerúndolo will move from Lyon to Paris to play the Roland Garros Open tomorrow, the second Grand Slam tournament of the year in which he will debut against the Spanish Jaume Munar (77). Fils, for his part, the champion with the lowest ranking so far this year, will play Roland Garros thanks to a special invitation and will debut against the Spanish Alejandro Davidovich Fokina (34).
The premiere of the Argentines
Roland Garros will begin on Sunday, but only two of the eleven Argentines who qualified for the main draw will have action on the first day. Facundo Díaz Acosta, who entered as lucky loser and will make its world premiere at the Parisian Openwill be measured from 7:30 against the Australian Jason Kuble, while Nadia Podoroska, the only national tennis player in the draw and a semifinalist in 2020, will collide with the French Jessika Ponchet.
