2023-09-16 18:22:11
The Argentine Davis Cup team opened the series once morest Lithuania with a victory and now leads it 1-0, following the victory that Francisco Cerúndolo achieved this Saturday over Vilius Gaubas by 6/1, 6/7 (6/8) and 6/2 .
Cerúndolo, ranked 21st in the ATP world ranking, suffered more than expected to beat the 18-year-old youth Gaubas (476) and had to spend two and a half hours of play, in the match that opened the best-of series. five points at the Buenos Aires Lawn Tennis Club.
The series between Argentines and Lithuanians will continue with the match hosted by Sebastián Báez (28) and Ricardas Berankis (231), 34 years old.
This was Cerúndolo’s triumph over Gaubas
The first victory of the albiceleste team led by Guillermo “Mago” Coria was suffered by the ups and downs in Cerúndolo’s game, which were accentuated in the second set.
At the beginning, the Argentine broke from the start to earn the first applause on the sunny followingnoon in “La Catedral” and with great solidity in his service games and also firm with the return, he built a perfect set that he won 6-1 in just 42 minutes.
Cerúndolo, this year’s champion on the British grass of Eastbourne, went ahead 4-1 and then closed 6-1 with a clear dominance over an opponent who showed enthusiasm and a lot of dedication to run each ball, no more than that.
In the second set Cerúndolo grew in confidence, which allowed him to choose his shots better, with a lot of room to take risks, so he insisted on playing on Gaubas’ forehand and then closing the point on the backhand, where the Lithuanian showed more weakness.
“Fran” broke once more to stretch his lead to 3-1 and seemed to be leading the set and the match, but he got overconfident, made too many errors with his forehand and that allowed the enthusiastic Lithuanian to break his serve to score 2-3 and then equalize. 3-3 to the surprise of the public.
Cerúndolo did not recover the consistency of the previous set and the match went to a tie break in which he had a match point that escaped him just like the set that he lost 7-6.
In the final set “Fran” adjusted his shots and with the power of his forehand plus the simple argument of putting the ball on the other side of the court, he led the match with a 5-1 advantage that he later converted to 6-2.
Cerúndolo had many surprises once morest an inferior rival, although at least he was able to contribute the point to the Argentine team and avoided one of those surprises so typical of Davis, where factors that exceed the position in the ranking influence.
How the series between Argentina and Lithuania continues
The tie between Argentines and Lithuanians will continue with the match between Báez and Berankis and will be completed tomorrow with the remaining three points.
The third point will be played this Sunday from 11 with the doubles and Argentina announced the “top ten” Andrés Molteni (9) and Máximo González (10), while the Lithuanians will oppose Edas Butvilas (532), 19 years old , and Tadas Babelis, an unranked tennis player who completes the European team.
The fourth point of the series will feature the number one from each country, Cerúndolo for the Argentine team and Berankis for the Lithuanians, and the fourth will be animated by Báez and Gaubas, although if the series is defined it is the captains’ power to change the training and may even agree not to play the last game.
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