Argentine tennis player Francisco Cerúndolo will face American Jack Sock this Saturday, his compatriot Sebastián Báez against Australian Rinky Hijikata, and Guido Pella from Bahia against Dutch Tallon Griekspoor, in matches of the second round of the Indian Wells Masters 1000.
“Fran” Cerúndolo, the best Argentine in the ATP world ranking since 32nd place, will debut not before 7:00 p.m. directly in the second round against local server Sock (154), winner in the initial round of Frenchman Gregoire Barrere ( 65).
In the event of winning, Cerúndolo will play his next match against the Canadian Félix Auger Aliassime (10) or the Spanish Pedro Martínez (120).
Báez (35), for his part, champion this year at the Córdoba Open, will also debut in the second round not before 8:30 p.m. against Hijikata (130), who passed the classification and beat the Swedish Mikael Ymer in the initial round ( 57).
In the event of winning, Báez will play his next match against an American tennis player: Taylor Fritz (5) or Ben Shelton (41).
Lastly, Pella from Bahia (739), after beating Brazilian Thiago Monteiro (78) in the initial round, will play not before 7:00 p.m. against the Dutchman Tallon Griekspoor (36), excepted from the first round.
If Pella settles in the third round, his rival will come from the cross between the Australian Thanasi Kokkinakis (94) and the Spanish Carlos Alcaraz (2), top seed for the title and champion of the tournament last year.
The Indian Wells Masters 1000 takes place on a concrete surface, will distribute prizes of $10,143,750, will last until Sunday March 19 and is played jointly between the ATP and the WTA.
The contest had only one Argentine champion throughout history, Juan Martín Del Potro from Tandil, who lifted the trophy in the 2018 edition, when he took Roger Federer’s undefeated record from 18 matches.